PS 
263 
C63 
1901 

M 



STUDIES IN PHILOLOGY 



Pl lVLISHED I N DKU THE DIRECTION OF 

THE puiLouxircAL CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 

XORTfT CAROLINA 



The Influence of E. T. A. Hoffmann on the 
Tales of Edgar Allan Poe 



BY 



PALMER COBB 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF GERMAN IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 

Siibmttted m Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the 

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty 

of Philosophy, [Columbia University 



CHAPEL HILL 

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

1808 



STUDIES IN PHILOLOGY 



THE -PHILOLOGICAL CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY ot 
NORTH CAROLINA 

( . A LP1 1 ( )NSO M ITU , EOITOR 



Vol. J Chaucer s Relative Constructions. By Louis Round 
Wilson. 

Vol. II. Studies in the Syntax of the King James Version. 
By James Moses Grainger. 

Vol. III. The Influence of E. T. A. Hoffmann on the Tales 
of Edgar Allan Poe. By Palmer Cobb. 






"r 



STUDIES IN PHILOLOGY 



PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 

THE PHILOLOGICAL CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY OF 
NORTH CAROLINA 



Vol.. Ill 



The Influence of E.T. A. Hoffmann on the 
Tales of Edgar Allan Poe 



BY 

PALMER COBB 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF GERMAN IN THE 
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA 

Submitted m Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the 

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty 

of Philosophy, Columbia University 



CHAPEL HILL 

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 

1908 




THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
CHAPEL HILL. 




TO 
M. L. S. 

IN 
FRIENDSHIP 



173207 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

BIBLIOGRAPHY vii 

INTRODUCTION 1 

CHAPTER I 

VARIOUS ESTIMATES OF POE S INDEBTEDNESS TO 

GERMAN LITERATURE 4 

CHAPTER II 

GERMAN LITERATURE IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND 

IN THE THIRTIES AND FORTIES 15 

CHAPTER III 

POE S KNOWLEDGE OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE 20 

CHAPTER IV 

HOFFMANN S Elixiere des Teufels AND POE S William 

Wilson 31 

CHAPTER V 

HOFFMANN S Magnetiseur AND POE S Tale of the Ragged 

MOUNTAINS 49 

CHAPTER VI 

HOFFMANN S Die Jesuiterkirche in G - AND POE S 

The Oval Portrait .70 



vi Contents 

CHAPTER VII 

HOFFMANN S Doge und Dogaressa AND FOB S The 

Assignation 81 

CHAPTER VIII 

POE S STYLISTIC INDEBTEDNESS TO HOFFMANN , 91 

CHAPTER IX 
CONCLUSIONS , . . 103 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



References in the body of the text are made by foot notes 
under the name of the author or editor to the following- 
works. 

A. Barine, Nevros&s. Paris, 1893. 

H. M. Belden, Anglia, 23. 376. 

L. P. Betz, Edgar Poe in der Franzosischen Literatur. 
Frankfurt a.M., 1893. 

W. v. Biedermann, Editor, Goethes Gesprdche. Leipzig, 
1889-96. 

J. Bing, Novalis. Eine Eiographische Charakteristik. 
Hamburg- and Leipzig, 1893. 

Bruhier, Abhandluugen von der Ungeivissheit der Kennzei- 
chen des Todes. (jbersetzt von Johann Gotfried Jancke. 
Leipzig, 1754. 

Cooper, The Mohawk Edition of Coopers Works. New 
York, 1897. 

G. Ellinger, E. T. A. Hoffmann. Sein Leben and seine 
Werke. Hamburg und Leipzig, 1906. 

C. P. Evans. Miincher Allg. Zeitung, 1899. No. 229. 

R. P. Gillies, German Stories. Selected from the works of 
de la Motte Fouque, Richter, etc. London, 1826. 

E. Griesebach, Editor, E. T. A. Hoffmanns Sdmtliche 
Werke. Leipzig, 1906. 

R. W. Griswold, Life and Works of E. A. Poe. New 
York, 1856. 

G. Gruener, Publications of the Modern Language Associ 
ation of America. March, 1904. 

Gruendel, E. A. Poe. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss und 
Wurdigung des Dichters. Schulprogram, Freiberg, 1895. 

J. A. Harrison, Editor, The Complete Works of E. A. Poe. 
New York, 1902, 

Havemann, Deutsche Heimat, 1902. Heft 3. 



viii Bibliography 

Hawthorne, The Riverside Edition of Hawthorne s Works. 

E. v. der Hellen, Editor, Schillers Sdmtliche Werke, Sa- 
kular-Ausgabe. Stuttgart und Berlin, 1905. 

E. Heilborn, Editor, Novalis Schnften. Berlin, 1901. 

J. E. Hitzig, E. T. A. Hoffmanns Leben und Nachlass. 
Stuttg-art, 1845. 

A. v. Humbolt, Kosmos. Stuttg-art, 1845. 

J. H. Ingram, Editor, The Works of E. A. Poe. London, 
1899. 

Lauvri&re, Edgar Poe. Sa Vie et Son Oeuvre. Paris, 
1904. 

A. und H. Moeller-Bruck, Editors, E. A. Poes Samthche 
Werke Minden i. W. 1904. 

Mrs. Ann Radcliff, The Mysteries of Udolpho. London, 
1824. 

Mrs. Ann Radcliff, The Italian. London, 1836. 

R. H. Stoddard, Editor, The Works of E. A. Poe. New 
York, 1884. 

E. C. Stedman, E. A. Poe. Boston, 1881. 

E. C. Stedman and G. E. Woodberry, Editors, The Works 
of E. A. Poe. Chicago, 1896. 

Van Vleuten, Berliner Zukunft. XI Jahrgang. No, 44. 

Wiegler, Berliner Tag. 1901. No. 300. 

G. E. Woodberry, E. A. Poe. Boston, 1885. 



OF 

UNIV 

OF 

" 



INTRODUCTION 

"Goethe spoke much about the French, especially Cousin, 
Villemain, and Guizot, The insight, circumspection, and 
perspicuity of these men, said he, 4s great; they com 
bine complete knowledge of the past with the spirit of 
the nineteenth century, which, to be sure, works wonders. 

From this we passed to the newest French writers and to 
the significance of classic and romantic. 

A new expression has occurred to me, said Goethe, 
which does not characterize the relationship badly. The 
classic I call the healthy, and the romantic the diseased. And 
in this sense the Nibelungen is classic, as well as Homer, for 
both are healthy and vigorous. The most of the new is not 
romantic because it is new, but because it is weak, sickly and 
diseased, and the old is not classic because it is old, but because 
it is strong, fresh, happy and healthy. " 

This is Goethe s word relative to a certain phase of roman 
ticism whose productions seemed to him to be unsound and 
unwholesome, because they did not emanate from minds 
which were "strong, fresh, happy and healthy." 

It is with the productions of two such minds which Goethe 
characterizes as "diseased" that the present work has to do. 
The American Edgar Allan Poe, and the German Ernst Theo- 
dor Amadeus Hoifmann are both disciples of that phase of 
romanticism which had terror of the uncanny as its dominant 
note, and which Goethe calls "weak, sickly, and diseased" in 
in distinction from that which is "strong, fresh, happy and 
healthy." Both these men were powerfully fascinated by the 
mystery of the supernatural. They were tantalized by the 
hope of solving or guessing the secrets of another world which 
stretches away beyond the range of human intelligence. One 
may agree with Goethe that the theories they evolved and the 



1 Biedermann. Goethes Gesprache, Leipzig, 1889-96. Vol. 7, p. 40. 



2 Palmer Cobb 

tales they told are not food for the mind that is fresh, sound, 
and cheerful. But if their fancy and their speculation enticed 
them too far afield their g-enius accompanied them, and it 
will create for their work a lasting- value. 

It has been said that they were both exponents of one 
phase of romanticism, that their interests were frequently 
identical. To what extent was the one acquainted with the 
work of the other? In what measure did the one mind influ 
ence the other? 

In the recently completed German edition of Poe s works, 2 
the editor, in his prefatory account of the poet s life and 
work s remarks: 

Sein Leben war das eines Traumers aus dem alten Mut- 
terlande Europa, und wenn man seine halb norman- 
nische Abkunft bedenkt, kann man schon ruhig sag-en, 
eines g-ermanischen Trauniers war ein Leben, ein 
Traunileben, g-efuhrt in dem brutal-realen, fast aus- 
schliesslich merkantilen Milieu Nord Amerikas 
Die Kreuzung- von Leben und Mensch, die sich da 
erg-ab, die Mischung- von bedingung-sloser Kultur und 
unbedingiem Neuland, die dann so einzig- 1st, ist Poe, 
der Romantiker, verpflanzt auf den realitatenschwer- 
sten Boden, den man sich in damaliger Zeit nur iiber- 
haupt denken konnte. 

This in g-eneral is the standpoint of the present work. It 
is Poe the "Germanic dreamer," the romanticist, that is here 
to be the subject of discussion, and always from the stand 
point of his indebtedness to German literature, as to material 
and technique. Poe the romanticist and dreamer is probably 
nowhere more happily, and at the same time more briefly 
characterized than by his contemporary James Russell 
Lowell: 3 

^L In his tales he has chosen to exhibit nis powers chiefly 
in that dim region which stretches from the very 



2 Moeller-Bruck, E. A. Poe s Samtliche Werke. Minden i. W., 1904. Vol. 
1, p. 126. 
8 Graham s Magazine. February, 1845. Our Contributors. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 3 

utmost limits of the probable into the weird confines of 
superstition and unreality. He combines in a very 
remarkable manner two faculties which are seldom 
found united; a power of influencing the mind of the 
reader by the impalpable shadows of mystery, and a 
minuteness of detail which does not leave a pin or a 
button unnoticed. ... 

He loves to dissect those cancers of the mind, and to 
trace all the subtle ramifications of its roots. In rais 
ing- images of horror he has a strange success; convey 
ing to us sometimes by a hint some terrible doubt 
which is the secret of all horror. He leaves to the 
imagination the task of finishing the picture, a task 
to which she only is competent, X 



CHAPTER I 

VARIOUS ESTIMATES OF POE S INDEBTEDNESS TO GERMAN 

LITERATURE 

Poe s critics have from the very first connected his name 
and work with German romanticism. As early as 1833 he 
published in the March number of the Sottthern Literary 
Messenger his tale Berenice, and the editor of the maga 
zine found it expedient to introduce it to his readers with the 
following- note: "Whilst we confess we think there is too 
much German horror in his subject, there can be but one 
opinion as to his force and style." And from that time 
on critics of Poe have generally assumed a German influence 
in his tales. Some indeed have contested it. Poe himself 
was entirely conscious of this attitude on the part of his crit 
ics, and he has expressed himself on the subject as follows: 

I am led to think that it is the prevalence of the Ara 
besque in my serious tales which has induced one or two 
of my critics to tax me, in all friendliness, with what 
they have been pleased to call Germanism and gloom. 
The charge is in bad taste and the grounds of the accu 
sation have not been sufficiently considered. Let us 
admit for the moment that the "phantasy pieces" now 
given are Germanic or what not. But the truth is that 
with a single exception there is no one of the stories in 
which the scholar should recognize the distinctive fea 
tures of that .species of pseudo-horror which we are 
taught to call Germanic for no better reason than that 
some of the secondary names of German literature 
have become identified with its folly. If in many of 
,/hiy productions terror has been the thesis, I maintain 
that terror is not of Germany, but of the soul. 1 



l Harrison, The Complete Works of E. A. Poe. New York, 1902. Vol. 17, 
p. 47. 



Influence of Hoffman on the Tales of Poe 5 

This utterance of Poe has been used as evidence by the 
few critics who deny the German influence in his works. In 
so doing 1 they have overlooked the fact that Poe does not 
deny in g-eneral terms the influence of German romanticism * 
in his tales. The statement is that, as far as terror has been 
the thesis of his tales, this terror was of his own soul and not 
of Germany. That is without doubt true. Of motives and 
technique of the German romanticists there is no word of 
denial. A few of the critics have also made that distinction. 

The first American biographer of Poe, Griswold, has too 
much to do in his slanderous investigations of Poe s supposed 
debauches to treat of literary influences. There is no men 
tion of German influence. Stedman discusses the subject 
briefly but does not find in Poe s work anything" suggestive 
of far reaching German influence. Later, however, he seems 
to have changed his mind. In his introduction to the edition 
of Poe of 1895, he says: "Nevertheless, there is a pseudo- 
horror to be found in certain of his pieces, and enoug-h of 
Hoffmann s method to sug-g-est that the brilliant author of the 
Phantasie Stilckc, (Hoffmann) whether a secondary name or 
not, was one of Poe s early teachers." 

Ag~ain, on page 96: "Still, while Hoffmann was wholly of 
the fatherland, and Poe a misfitted American, if the one had 
died before the other, instead of thirteen years later, there 
would be a chance for a pretty fancy in behalf of the doc- ^ 
trine of metempsychosis, which both writers utilized." Sted 
man concludes that Hoffmann s influence is undeniable. 

The next American biographer, Prof. Woodberry, is 
entirely ag-ainst German influence, while the last biography, 
that of Prof. Harrison in the preface to his edition of Poe, 
makes no direct reference to K. T. A. Hoffmann. He declares, 
however,- that Poe was "saturated with the doctrines of 
Schelling-, " and speaks also of "Novalis and Schelling-, his 
masters across the German Sea." Mention is also made of 
the translations of Tieck, de la Motte-Fouque, Chatnisso, the 



2 Harrison, Vol. 1, p. 153, 4. 



6 Palmer Cobb 

Schlegels, Schiller, Heine, Uhland, "opening 1 up a won 
der-world of picturesque Germanism." 

Aside from the biographies of Poe, the subject is dis- 
^cussed in a brief article by Prof. Gruener in the Publications 
of the Modern Language Association of America, March, 1904. 
The article is entitled, Notes on the Influence of E. T. A. 
Hoffmann on Edgar Allan Poe. The author states that it is 
not his purpose to go deeply into the matter, and sums up 
his results as follows. 

First, "Poe acknowledges the kinship of his tales to those of 
Hoffmann, when he calls them phantasy pieces. Gruener 
is of the opinion that Poe saw this term in Carlyjg^discus- 
sion of Hoffmann in his German Roman i ce, and that the Amer 
ican author appropriated thence the title which he applies to 
his tales. In a letter to his friend, Prof. Anthon, 3 Poe writes: 
"My tales, a great number of which might be called phantasy 
pieces, are in number sixty-six." 

Secondly, Gruener believes that Poe took from Hoffmann 
his idea of the Polio Club, imitating the German author s 
Serapionsbruder. Poe gave to his first collection of tales the 
title Tales of the Polio Club. They were submitted to the 
Baltimore Visitor, October, 1833, for a prize contest. He 
introduces them as follows: "I find upon reference to the 
records that the Folio Club was organized as such on the 

day in the year - . I like to begin with the 

beginning, and have a partiality for dates." The members 
were to be witty and erudite. The purpose of the club was 
the "instruction of society and the amusement of themselves." 
It was also resolved that some member should compose and 
read at each meeting a prose tale. The meetings were to be 
held at the homes of the members, and provision was made 
also for eatables and drinkables. The constitution of the 
Serapionsbruder is strikingly similar. 4 
We read: 

3 Harrison, Vol. 17. p. 179. 

^Griesebach, E. T. A. Hoffrnans Saratliche Werke. Leipzig, 1906. Vol. 7, 
p. 11. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 7 

Und hiermit erklare ich die Praliminarien unsers neuen 
Bundes feierlichst fur abgeschlossen, und setze fest, 
dass wir uns jede Woche an einem bestimmten Tage 
zusammen finden wollen, u.s.w. 

"Herrlicher Einfall," rief Lothar, "fiige doch noch sog- 
leich, lieber Ottmar, gewisse Gesetze hinzu, die bei 
unsern bestimmten wochentlichen Zusammeukunfteh 
stattfinden sollen. Z. B. dass iiber dieses oder jeties 
gesprochen oder nicht gesprochen werden darf, oder 
dass jeder gehalten sein soil, dreimal witzig zu sein, 
oder dass wir ganz gewiss jedesmal Sardellen-Salat 
essen wollen," u.s.w. 
Again, page 55: 

Es kann nicht fehlen dass wir. einer dem andern, nach 
alter Weise, manches poetische Produktlein, das wir 
unter dem Herzen getragen, mitteilen werden. 
Thirdly, Gruener believes that Poe hit upon his title for r 
his second collection of Tales, Tales of the Grotesque und 
Arabesque, through Hoffmann. In support of this theory, an 
article by Walter Scott in the jForej^j t ~J3tiui& 

J ^^a*"******" CT t-" ^7 

July, l$2Z*os -quoted. Poe, in one of his letters, quotes this 
very magazine 5 and he must have been attracted by this 
article of Scott s, which deals with German Romance. Scott 
speaks of the "fantastic mode of writing" and cites Hoffmann 
as the pioneer in this field: "He (Hoffmann) was the inven 
tor, or at least the first distinguished artist, who exhibited 
the fantastic or supernatural grotesque in his compositions, 
so nearly on the verge of insanity as to be afraid of the beings 
his own fancy created. In fact, the Grotesque in his compo 
sitions partly resembles the Arabesque in painting." Gruener 
concludes that Poe must have noticed this passage, "partic 
ularly as Scott proceeds to charge Hoffmann with just those 
things with which Poe was charged in his lifetime." It is 
worthy of note also that the introduction to Poe s Tales of 
the Folio Club was first published in Harrison s edition. Poe 



5 Harrison. Vol. 17, page 161. 



8 Palmer Cobb 

probably thought the resemblance to the Serapionsbruder too 

striking. 

Gruener discusses the passage in Stedman s biography 

of Poe which connects the latter s Fall of the House of 

Usher with Hoffmann s Das Majvratr The passage reads as 

follows: 6 

A reader finds certain properties of the "House of 
Usher" and Metzengerstein in Das Majorat in 
the ancestral castle of a noble family, in a wild and 
remote estate near the Baltic Sea the interior, where 
the moon shines through oriel windows upon tapestry 
and carven furniture and wainscoting, the uncanny 
scratchings upon a bricked-up door, the old Freiherr 
foreseeing the hour of his death, the ominous confla 
gration, the turret falling of its own decay into a 
chasm at its base, etc. 

\ Gruener notes relative to this passage: 

These "properties" here enumerated are the very fea 
tures which Scott, in his article on Hoffmann lays stress 
upon in the analysis of Das Majorat. In his own words 
he describes the castle and its inhabitants, quotes in 
translation the scene in the large hall at night with 
moonlight streaming "through the broad transom win 
dows" into the hall in which the "walls and roof were 
ornamented the former with heavy paneling, the 
latter with fantastic carving;" and also quotes the 
conclusion of the story. He notes that the Baron s 
name was Roderick; and that the lady is "young, beau 
tiful, nervous, and full of sensibility." The most 
striking feature of the whole, however, is Scott s 
description of the castle itself, culled from various 
parts of Hoffmann s story: "It was a huge pile over 
hanging the Baltic sea, silent, dismal, almost uninhab 
ited, and surrounded, instead of gardens and pleasure 
grounds, by forests and black pines and firs which 



6 Woodbery-Stedman Edition, The Work* of E. A. Poe. Chicago, 1896. 
Vol. I, page 97. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 9 

came up to the walls. Part of the castle was in ruins , 
and by its fall -made a deep chasm, which extended from 
the highest turret down to the dungeon of the castle. 
Compare with this picture the description of the House 
of Usher, and note the close resemblance, chiefly, of the 
chasm from "the highest turret down to the dungeon" 
with that "barely perceptible fissure which, extending 
from the roof in the building in front, made its way 
down the wall in a zig-zag direction until it became 
lost in the sullen waters of the tarn." 
In addition, other features of the life and incidents at 
the Entailed Castle agree most strikingly with those 
at the Castle of Metzengerstein as described by Poe. If 
Poe needed and got any outside suggestion for those two 
stories, he found them here in condensed form. There 
is a great temptation in hounding similarities to death, 
but it does not seem like forcing things too much to see 
in Spt $~ssa^~j(2tt.^ of 

Poe s two^^storieSj and to^hold^ that these analogies 
confirm the conjecture that Poe saw this review and 

" -*&gt; . l:+t~,;,.jU. I-l.^.^iVJ.XJ^lv.,..:.^,,.*.. .... .&gt;K..-\t ^^.^;A~,..*::.-~*;;V^,I^MKXri&gt;* -=*W* 

drew from it. Y 

Gruener s generalizations are obvious. Nor does it seem 
like forcing things too much to suppose that Poe s interest 
in Hoffmann was greatly aroused by this article and that 
his acquaintance with the German author s work is to be 
dated from this time. 

Gruener very rightly connects Poe s Fall of the House 
of Usher with this article of Scott rather than with a first 
hand reading of Das Majorat. The analogies do not extend 
further than Gruener traces them. 

As to the resemblances between Metzengerstein and Das 
Majorat, they hardly justify a minute analysis. The two 
stories are constructed out of the same general romantic mate 
rial, but a consecutive thread of resemblance is lacking. 
There is in both stories the dismal uninhabited castle ten 
anted by an eccentric hero, the last of his noble race. But 
the analogy hardly goes further. Poe s story has for its 



10 Palmer Cobb 

basis what purports to be a Hungarian legend dealing with 
his favorite doctrine of metempsychosis, and combined with 
this a feud between two noble Hungarian families, all of 
which is lacking in Hoffmann s tale. 

A tolerably accurate statement of the case would seem to 
be that Poe, having read Scott s article, used certain general 
elements of the German s story in his House of Usher, and 
possibly also in Metzenger stein, which elements seem to have 
been gathered from the review rather than from a first hand 
reading of the German story. As a result of the interest 
aroused by this review a closer acquaintance with Hoffmann s 
work followed. In other stories more striking and more sig 
nificant resemblances are to be discovered. 

Lastly, Gruener calls attention to a certain peculiarity of 
style common to Poe and Hoffmann. This belongs to a dis 
cussion of the language. Gruener believes also that it "can 
be proved that Poe knew German." 

In an article in the Anglia 1 Prof. Belden utters also an 
opinion in the matter. The purpose of the article, as the 
author expresses it, is to "establish Poe s sincerity as a critic, 
with reference to a certain criticism which Poe made of Haw 
thorne, to the effect that the latter was strongly influenced 
by Tieck." The article discusses the justice or injustice of 
Poe s criticism, and the author notes also in passing: "It has 
been held by some that his (Poe s) Tales of the Grotesque and 
Arabesque get their peculiar title, if nothing else, from the 
Arabesken of the German Romanticists, and the House of 
Usher has been likened to Hoffmann s Das Majorat" 

English and foreign criticism has been almost unanimous 
in deciding that P0e was indebted to Hoffmann and other 
romanticists for material and for a standard of technique in 
the tale. Stoddard, in the preface to his edition of 1884, 
remarks: "If Hawthorne s master was Tieck, as Poe declared, 
the master of Poe, so far as he had one, was Hoffmann," 
Ingram in his biography makes no mention of the subject. 



7 Vol, 23, page 376. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 11 

A French critic 8 takes account of Poe s denial of German 
horror in his work as follows: "La critique americaine lui 
(Poe) reprochait d avoir emprunte aux romantiques allemands 
le gout des histoires lugubres." Barine then quotes the 
passage from Poe which has already been given, and adds: 

II disait vrai La science extraordinaire de la peur, a 
tous les degres et dans toutes ses varie*tes, n avait e"te 
emprunte a personne. Poe n en avait pas eu besoin. 
II n avait eu, comme il le dit, qu a regarder dans son 
arne- 
In another place Barine says: 

Edgar Poe conteur precede a la fois de Coleridge et des 
romantiques allemands, de Coleridge pour les idees gn- 
erales, des romantiques allemands pour la technique, II 
possedait son Hoffmann sur le bout du doigt. Non con- 
tentde lui emprunter son genre, il avait appris & son 
ecole a donner de la realite, par la precision et la varie*te 
du detail, aux fantasies les plus extravagantes. 
Barine s criticism is important in that he makes the dis- \r 
tinction between the terror which prevails in Poe s tales, and 
their ^motive and technique. In the first passage he justifies 
Poe s own statement with reference to the Germanic or non- 
Germanic character of the horror which is to be found in his 
tales. In the second passage he does justice to the German 
influence in general and to Hoffmann in particular. And this 
is the distinction which one may well hold in mind in a sur 
vey of Poe s works. Whatever of terror he has, he may */ 
easily have created out of his own fancy. But that in no wise 
precludes indebtedness to Hoffmann and others for material 
and method. It is interesting to note the standpoint from 
which Barine writes. He discusses his subjects in four 
chapters: Hoffmann Le vin, Quincy L? opium, Edgar Poe 
Dalcool, and Gerard de Nerval La Polie. 

German criticism has little to say on the subject, but the 
few references we find assume, with one exception, an influ- 



8 Barine, Nevross. Paris, 1893. p. 209. 



12 Palmer Cobb 

ence from Hoffmann and the other romanticists. The excep 
tion is an article by Van Vleuten on Poe. 9 The author 
ascribes the whole of Poe s creative work to the inspiration 
of alcoholic delirium or epilepsy, a view which no one thor 
oughly conversant with Poe s works, or with modern criticism 
of the poet, could possibly hold. Van Vleuten remarks also: 
Man begniigte sich viel mehr meist damit, die Eigen- 
art der Novellen Poe s dadurch zu erklaren, dass man 
seine tiefgehende Beeinflussung durch E. T. A. Hoff 
mann, iiberhaupt durch die deutschen Romantiker 
annahm. Das war sehr oberflachlich; mann kann sogar 
sagen: Es war falsch." .... 
Again: 

Unhaltbar ist die Annahme, Poe sei von E. Th. 
A. Hoffmann entscheidend beeinflusst worden. Hoff 
mann war kein Epileptiker, also auch kein Dipsomane. 
Was er (Hoffmann) am Schauerlichen und Unheim- 
lichen bietet, stammt von den Romantikern, aus alten 
Zauberstiicken und Mystikern: Gespenster, ver- 
grabene Schatze, Doppelganger, dazu eine Prise Mes- 
mer, u.s.w. 

The reader who is even superficially acquainted with Poe 
will at once observe that this list of motives which Van 
Vleuten has established as characteristic for Hoffmann recurs 
without exception, again and again, in Poe s tales. 

A "Schul-programm" 10 of Freiberg, 1895, gives a short 
account of Poe s life and works. "Er (Poe) erinnert viel an 
E. Th. A. Hoffmann, dem er viele Anregung verdankte, sowie 
Tieck und Novalis." Wherever Hoffmann is discussed, the 
writer usually thinks involuntarily of Poe. 

Havemann" denies the assertion of Ellinger (Hoffmann s 
last biographer) that the spectral and the ghostly no longer 



fl Yon Vleuten, Berliner Zukunft. XI Jahrgang. No. 44. 
lOGruendel, E. A. Poe. Ein Beitrag zur Kenntniss und Wiirdigung dep 
Dichters. Schul-program, Freiberg, 1895. 

llHavemann, Deutsche Heimat, 1902. Heft, 3. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Pot IS 

have the power to charm us. "Ich habe noch me gehort, dass 

jemand E. A. Poe gelesen und die Achseln gezuckt hatte." 
Wiegler I2 commenting" on the Moeller-Bruck edition of Poe, 

remarks: 

Wonnig iiberrascht werden die Liebhaber des Dichters 
Poe jetzt erwagen konnen, wie er mit allerf einster Kunst 
der Romantik verbunden ist. Von den deutschen 
Hymnen des Novalis hat er das Visionare, von Tieck 
dessen Reise ins Blaue er citert, den marchenhaften 
Einschlag, den Begriff, dass es am Rheine alte, verfal- 
lene, schicksalsvolle Stadte gebe, mit E. T. A. Hoff 
mann gemeinsam das Doppelgangermotiv, das er fur 
die Beichte des Wm. Wilson verwandte .... Er 
hat einsame Schlosser, nach romantischer Weise 
irgendwo in den Appeninen mit alten Gemaldegalle- 
rien, finstere englische Abteien, oder Hintergriinde von 
so magischem Entsetzen wie sein House of Usher, das 
hinter steifen Binsen und weisslich phosphoreszieren- 
den Stammen aus den bleifarbenen Gasen des finsteren 
Teiches sich hebt, von Pilzen iiberwuchert, mit Hoh- 
len, die wie erloschene Augen stieren. Er versetzt 
seine Personem, ihre Note und Verzweifelungen, in 
hohe Turmgemacher, die er in dekorativer Wahllosig- 
keit mit Kandelabern, schwarzen Eichenholzdecken, 
schwarzen Sammetgardinen, veranderlichen Tapisse- 
rien, geschnitzten indischen Betten, dariiber wie ein 
Leichentuch der Baldachin, dunklen Venetianer Schei- 
ben, sarazenischen Skulpturen, und sogar in den 
Ecken, mit Sarcophagen aus Konigsgrabern ausstattet. 
A very striking resume of the romantic setting of some of 

Poe s tales. 

C. P. Evans, in a short article on Poe, says: I3 

Poe litt an einer hochgradigen Plagiatenentdeckungs- 
sucht, die mit der Zeit immer schlimmer wurde und 
sich am Ende zu einer unheilbaren Monomanie 

12 Berliner Tag, 1901. No. 309. 

13 Miinchener Allg. Zeitung. 1899. No. 229. 



14 Palmer Cobb 

steig-erte . . . Um g-leiches mit g-leichem zu verg-el- 
ten haben einig-e Critiker den krankhaf ten und unwider- 
stehlichen Hang- zum literarischen Diebstahl, den Poe 
eifrig bestrebt war bei Longfellow nachzuweisen, 14 
in noch hoherem Grad bei ihm entdecken wollen. 
Moeller-Bruck remarks in this connection IS 

Poe ist ja iiberhaupt einseitig, und man muss immer, 
wenn man an ihn denkt oder von ihm spricht, festhal- 
ten, dass der Grundton seines Lebens und Schaffens 
der Romantiker ist, und dass er nur ein Echo im Ameri- 
kanischen hat .... Seine amerikanischen Zeitge- 
nossen, Longfellow, u.s.w., den Hawthorne vielleicht 
ausgenommen, waren im Grunde ihres Wesens rein 
englische Dichter; und die dann kamen, Thoreau und 
vor alien Walt Whitman waren, was Poe nicht war, 
rein amerikanisch; wahrend die deutschen Romantiker, 
auf die man sich bei Poe so gern bezieht, doch sozusa- 
g-en Romantiker im eig-enen Lande, Romantiker im 
Romantischen Lande sein durften. 
L. P. Betz expresses the following- opinion: 16 

Weitaus am wichtigsten aber sind Poe s litterarische 
Beziehung-en zu unserem Amadeus Hoffman. Stofflich 
und technisch dankt der Erzahler Poe, der Autor der 
Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, dem phanta- 
sie-reichen und phantastischen deutschen Dichter zwei- 
fellos vieles. Darauf deuten schon einig-e direkte 
Entlehnungen hin. 

He speaks of Poe also as an "Anglo-Germane." 
The quotations cited have been chosen with the view of 
setting forth the gist of American, French, English, and 
German criticism with respect to Poe s relationship to Ger 
man literature. 



UWestermanns Monatshefte, Oct. 1882, Jan., Feb., 1883. 

13 Vol. I, page 127. 

16 Edgar Poe in der Franzosischeii Literatnr. Frankfurt a. M., 1893. 




UNIVERSITY 



CHAPTER II 

GERMAN LITERATURE IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND IN THE 
THIRTIES AND FORTIES 

A question which naturally suggests itself is: What 
stimulus did Poe have for an interest in German literature? 
America was in those days far more isolated from Europe 
than in this latter-day era of express steamers and rapid 
transit. How was it possible for an American man of letters 
to be so in touch with the productions of a European country 
as to have his thoughts guided and his work colored by that 
of a European nation? The answer to this question leads to 
others. Namely, to what extent was German literature 
known and studied in America during the time of Poe s act 
ivity as a story writer, 1830 to 1848 in round numbers? 
What impetus would an American man of letters have had to 
a study of German literature: and, granting his interest once 
aroused, what means would he have had of gratifying this 
interest? Disregarding, for the moment, the possibility of a 
first hand access to the original, there remain two possibili 
ties: translations, and magazine literature. 

It is impossible, of course, to give anything like an 
exhaustive survey of this subject here. A few translations 
and magazine articles will suffice to indicate a general inter 
est in those of the Romanticists to whom Poe is indebted. 
Up to 1845, the following translations of the works of E. T. 
A. Hoffmann had appeared in English: Black-wood s Maga 
zine brought out as early as 1824 a translation of Die 
Ehxiere des Teufels. There was also a separate print. In 
Carlyle s German Romance, London, 1827, there was a trans 
lation of Der goldene Topf, together with a discussion of 
Hoffmann. In 1826 there appeared in London three volumes 
translated by Robert Pierce Gillies, and containing trans 
lations of Das Frdulein von Scudery, and Das Majorat. In 
1826 there also appeared a volume of translations by G. 



16 Palmer Cobb 

Soane, which contained a translation of Hoffmann s Meister 
Floh. In 1844 appeared translations of Die Jesuiterkirche in 
G., Der Sandmann, and Der Elementargeist, by John Oxen- 
ford. 

The following" translations of Tieck appeared during* the 
same period: The Old Man of the Mountain, Love Charm, 
and Pietro of Abano, London, 1831; The Pictures and The 
Betrothal, London, 1825; The Poefs Life, Leipzig, 1830; The 
Roman Matron, or Vittoria Colonna, London, 1845. No 
translations of Novalis are recorded up to 1845. Poe s first 
tale, A Manuscript Found in a Bottle, appeared in 1833. 

Poe was always a close observer of French Literature, and 
the German romanticists were early cultivated in France. 
Hoffmann, even in those days, was better known and more 
widely read in France than in his own country. French 
literary journals were constantly busied with Hoffmann, and 
besides numerous single translations of his work, a complete 
edition was begun in 1829 by Francois Adolphe Loeve 
Veimars, and completed in 1833, the year of Poe s first tale. 1 
Another edition was begun in 1830 by Th. Toussenel. 

In 1829 also the Revue de Paris published a translation of 
a part of Scott s article in the Foreign Quarterly* The 
article is entitled Du Merveilleux dans le Roman. 

In the article by Prof. Belden (Anglia 23) , already cited, 
the author discusses Poe s criticism of Hawthorne, namely, 
that the latter s style was identical with that of Tieck. He 
accords to Poe s criticism the high value which the poet him 
self placed upon it, and which is its undeniable due. But he 
questions Poe s knowledge of German. "To the question 
whether Poe knew German, it will probably never be pos 
sible to give a definite answer." Further, he asks himself: 
"What means had a man not master of German of knowing 
the character of Tieck s works?" These means, he decides, 
were the Knglish and American periodicals. He concludes 



1 MS. found in a Bottle. Baltimore Saturday Visitor. Oct. 12, 1833. 

2 Revue de Paris. Vol. 1, page 25. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 17 

that Poe s criticism might have been perfectly sincere, solely 
from an idea of Tieck which he might have gathered from 
magazine articles. In substantiation of his theory he gives 
a survey of British and American magazine articles of the 
Thirties and Forties, some of which are as follows: 

The American Quarterly Review, for example, contained 
between 1827 and 1831 six articles on German literature, one of 
which deals with Bouterwek s Geschichte der deutschen Poesie 
und Beredsamkeit. The article contained a critique of the 
Schlegels, Tieck, and Novalis. In 1836 there appeared in 
Boston a translation of Heine s Zur Geschichte der neueren 
schb neu Literatur in Deutschland. There were numerous 
translations from Fouque. The Democratic Review, begin 
ning with 1842, had in almost every number a trans 
lation from the German, or an article on some German 
writer. Fr. Schlegel s lectures were translated in New York 
in 1841, and mention of them is found in a short sketch by 
Poe. 4 

Besides these mentioned by Prof. Belden, there appeared 
a translation of Fouque s Undine, New York, 1839, and a 
volume entitled Tales from the German, translated by 
Nathaniel Greene, Boston, 1837. The latter a two-volumed 
publication, contained several stories by C. F. van der Velde. 
In 1839 a small volume was published in New York contain 
ing Der todte Gast, by Heinrich Zschokke, and Spieler 
Glilck, by K. T. A. Hoffmann. These two tales were printed 
in the original. A significant statement relative to Ameri 
can appreciation of German literature of the period is to be 
found in the North American Review, January, 1840, page 
279. In connection with a review of a new German gram 
mar the reviewer observes: 

Some of us, who are not yet past the mezzo del cammin 
di noslra vita, can remember the time when a German 
grammar and dictionary could not be had for love or 
money. The poets of Germany were as much unknown 



4 Ingram. Vol. IV, page 89. 



18 Palmer Cobb 

as the poets of Tartary Nous avons 

change tout cela. Within a few years German litera 
ture has made great progress in this country. At some 
of our colleges, particularly Harvard University, 
almost every student of any pretensions to literary dis 
tinction masters the elements at least of the German 
language; and the opinions of German philosophers 
and theologians have already made themselves deeply 
felt, whether for good or evil, among the chaos of 
opinions around us. 

The interest in German Romanticism in England was 
earlier awakened, and more lively. Carlyle s German 
Romance appeared in 1827. The article in the Foreign 
Quarterly Review for July, 1827, has already been mentioned. 
Besides this, the following numbers up to 1844 contained 
upwards of forty articles dealing with German literature, 
reviews, criticisms, etc. Eraser s for 1831 has articles on 
The Old Man of the Mountain, Love Charm, and Pietro of 
Abano, translations from Tieck. Blackwood^s for February, 
1833, has a criticism of Bluebeard. The same magazine for 
September, 1837, has a review of Dichterleben. 

Among the translations, an important contribution 
included four volumes of stories entitled The German Novel 
ists , Tales selected from Ancient and Modern Authors, trans 
lated by Thomas Roscoe, London, 1826. The work con 
tained two tales from Fouque, four from Schiller, four from 
Tieck, six from Langbein, and two from Engel. Another 
volume of translations appeared in 1826 in Edinburgh, enti 
tled Tales from the German. The translator was Richard 
Holcroft. Another volume of Tales from the German 
appeared in London, 1829. 

These statistics, though not exhaustive, will suffice to 
show that there was a lively interest in German Romanticism 
both in America and England in the Thirties and Forties. 
Poe, in his capacity of magazine editor, was a zealous reader 
of magazines and followed closely American and foreign pub 
lications. Compare his sketch, How to write a Blackwood 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales n of Poe 19 

Article. It was impossible that he should not have been 
affected by this general interest in German romance. And it 
is just as impossible to read his works, especially his criti 
cism, without recognizing- that he had a more intimate 
acquaintance with German literature than it would have been 
possible to gain from magazine reading. 



CHAPTER III 

POE S KNOWLEDGE OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE 
AND LITERATURE 

Poe s writings are replete with quotations and references 
to German literature. Take for example his critique 
of Long-fellow s Ballads. There are frequent allusions to the 
influence of German literature on Long-fellow, 1 as for example: 
It will be at once evident that, imbued with the pecul 
iar spirit of German song (a pure conventionality), he 
regards the inculcation of a moral as essential. 
Poe cites Herder, Korner, and Uhland. 2 He prefers Long 
fellow s The Luck of Edenhall to Korner s Sword Song and 
adds: "We may observe of this ballad that its subject is more 
physical than is usual in Germany." And again: "But in 
pieces of less extent the pleasure is unique, in the proper 
acceptation of the term the understanding is employed with 
out difficulty in the contemplation of the picture as a whole; 
and thus its effect will depend, in great measure, upon the 
perfection of its finish, upon the nice adaptations of the con 
stituent parts, and especially upon what is rightly termed by 
Schlegel the unity or totality of interest." 

In a critique of Thomas Moore s Alciphron, Poe says: 3 
The term mystic is here employed in the sense of A. 
W. Schlegel, and of most other German critics. It is 
applied by them to that class of composition in which 
there lies beneath the transparent upper current of 
meaning an under, or suggestive one. 

Referring to the Undine of de la Motte Fouque, our 
author says: 

There is little of fancy here, and everything of imagi- 

1 Harrison, Vol. XI, Page 69. 

2 Harrison, Vol. XI, Page 80. 
8 Harrison. Vol. X, Page 65. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 21 

nation. Rationale of Versed If any one has a fancy to 
be thoroughly confounded to see how far the infat 
uation of what is termed classical scholarship can 
lead a book-worm to manufacture darkness out of sun 
shine, let him turn over for a few moments any of the 
German Greek Prosodies. The only thing- clearly 
made out in them is a very magnificent contempt for 
Leibnitz s principle of a sufficient reason. 
Poe s assertion that Hawthorne s manner was identical 
with that of Tieck has already been mentioned. The follow 
ing from Poe s Marginalia is also a striking passage. He is 
discussing Fouque s Theodolf the Icelander and Aslacya s 
Knight. 

This book could never have been popular out 
side of Germany. It is too simple too direct too 
obvious too bold not sufficiently complex to be rel 
ished by any people who have thoroughly passed the 
first (or impulsive) epoch of literary civilization. The 
Germans have not yet passed this first epoch. . . . 
Individual Germans have been critical in the best sense, 
but the masses are unleavened. Literary Germany 
thus presents the singular spectaele of the impulsive 
spirit surrounded by the critical, and of course in some 
measure influenced thereby. ... At present Ger 
man literature resembles no other on the face of the 
earth, for it is the result of certain conditions which, 
before this individual instant of their fulfilment, have 
never been fulfilled. And this anomalous state to 
which I refer is the source of our anomalous criticism 
upon what that state produces, is the source of the 
grossly conflicting opinions about German letters. 
For my own part, I admit the German vigour, the Ger 
man directness, boldness, imagination, and some other 
qualities in the first (or impulsive) epochs of British 



4 Harrison, Vol. XIV, Page 217. 



22 Palmer Cobb 

and French letters. At the German criticism however, I 
cannot refrain from laughing-, all the more heartily the 
more seriously I hear it praised. ... It abounds in 
brilliant bubbles of suggestion, but these rise and sink 
and jostle each other until the whole vortex of thought 
in which they originate is one indistinguishable chaos 
of froth. The German criticism is unsettled and can 
only be settled by time. ... I am not ashamed to 
say that I prefer even Voltaire to Goethe, and hold 
Macaulay to possess more of the truly critical spirit 
than Augustus William and Frederick Schlegel com 
bined. 5 

Such quotations from Poe s works might be multiplied 
almost indefinitely. As a pendant to this opinion of Goethe 
and the Schlegels, it is interesting to compare two passages, 
the one from the Fall of the House of Usher, the other from 
Morella : 

Our books the books which had for years formed no 
small portion of the mental existence of the invalid 
were, as might be supposed, in keeping with this char 
acter of Phantasm. 

In this list which, "for years had formed no small por 
tion of the mental existence of the invalid," Poe mentions 
Tieck s Journey into the Blue Distance* 
Another passage from Morella: 

Morella s erudition was profound. . . . I soon found, 
however, that, perhaps on account of her Presburg 
education, she placed before me a number of those 
mystical writings which are usually considered the 
mere dross of German literature. These, for what 
reason I could not imagine, were her favorite and con 
stant study and that in process of time they became 
my own should be attributed to the simple but effectual 
influence of habit and example. In all this, if I err 



5 Marginalia. Harrison, Vol. XVI, Page 115. 

6 Harrison, Vol. Ill, Page 287. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 23 

not, my reason had little to do. My convictions, or I 
forget myself, were in no manner acted upon by the 
ideal, nor was any tincture of the mysticism which I 
read to be discovered, unless I am greatly mistaken, 
either in my deeds or my thoughts. It is unnecessary 
to state the exact character of those disquisitions which, 
growing out of the volumes I have mentioned, formed 
for so long a time almost the sole conversation of Mor- 
ella and myself. . . . The wild pantheism of Fichte; 
the modified IlaAiyyeveo-ia of the Pythagoreans; and, 
above all, the doctrine of Identity as urged by Schell- 
ing, were generally the points of discussion presenting 
the most beauty to the imaginative Morella. 7 
These passages are of particular importance for the pur 
poses of this work. Poe finds German criticism unsettled 
and professes to prefer Voltaire to Goethe. In other words, 
for that which is generally considered best in German litera 
ture he has no appreciation. That which is usually con 
sidered the "mere dross" of German literature he describes as 
his constant and favorite reading. Scott s article in the 
Quarterly Review, on the Supernatural in Fiction, has 
already been mentioned. The author emphasizes the fact 
that E. T, A. Hoffmann is the type of the best among the 
"secondary" names of German literature. It will be remem 
bered also that Poe, in discussing German terror in his tales, 
uses the phrase, "for no better reason than that some of the 
secondary names of German literature have been identified 
with its folly." In the passage from Morella he has evi 
dently the same idea in mind when he speaks of the "mere 
dross" of German literature. 

Poe s reference to this magazine has already been men 
tioned. He was undoubtedly impressed by Scott s article, and 
when he speaks of "secondary names" and the "mere dross" 
of German literature, like Scott he has Hoffmann in mind. 
And when one considers that this class of literature became 



7 Harrison, Vol. II, Page 27. 



24 Palmer Cobb 

his favorite reading-, the statement becomes significant for 
his relationship to Hoffmann. It is also quite significant that 
Poe nowhere mentions Hoffmann s name directly. The Amer 
ican was an inveterate pursuer of plagiarism (one recalls, for 
example, the strife about Longfellow). He would therefore 
naturally not have given the horde of his inimical critics an 
opportunity to turn his own guns upon himself by discussing 
openly a man whose work bore such a striking resemblance to 
his own. 

Just as Poe s references to German literature in his works 
preclude the possibility of anything but a first-hand knowl 
edge of sources, so also they imply a knowledge of the 
language. The Mystery of Marie Roget, for example, which 
appeared in the Southern Literary Messenger, November, 
December, February, 1842-1843, contained as a heading a 
quotation from Novalis s Fragments in the original, with the 
translation appended. 

Es gibt eine Reihe idealischer Begebenheiten, die der 
Wirklichkeit parallel lauft. Selten fallen sie zusam- 
men. Menschen und Zustande modificiren gewohnlich 
die idealische Begebenheit, so dass sie unvollkommen 
erscheint, und ihre Folgen gleichfalls unvollkommen 
sind. So bei der Reformation; statt des Protestantis- 
mus kam das L/uthertum hervor. 

Poe translates, and no one can question the knowledge of 
German displayed: 

There are ideal series of events which run parallel 
with the real ones. They rarely coincide. Men and 
circumstances generally modify the ideal train of 
events, so that it seems imperfect, and its conse 
quences are equally imperfect. Thus with the Reform 
ation; instead of Protestantism came Lutherism. 
Novalis is again quoted in one of Poe s Fragments. 9 "The 
Artist belongs to his work, and not the work to the Artist," 
Also, in Poe s Tale of the Ragged Mountains, we find a refer 
ence to Novalis s theory of dreams. 

9 Marginalia. Harrison, Vol. XVI, page 98. 
Heilborn, Vol. II, page 563. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 25 

Poe s reference to Tieck s Journey into the Blue Distance, 
in The fall of the House of Usher, has been mentioned. At 
the time when this tale was written, 1839, no translation of 
Tieck s Reise ins Blaue hinetn had appeared either in English 
or French. 

Numerous German quotations in the original are scattered 
throughout Poe s works. In Marginalia he applies the 
term Schivdrmerci to a certain style of criticism in America. 
He translates it, "not exactly humbug, but sky-rocketing." 
He has a note also on Goethe s Sorrows of Werther." He 
finds it difficult to conceive how the Germans could have 
admired it, and adds: "The title, by the way, is mistrans 
lated, Leiden does not mean sorrows, but sufferings;" 
which distinction is quite exact. 

Poe s tale, The Man of the Crowd, opens with the follow 
ing sentence: "It is well said of a certain German book, es 
lasst sick nicht lesen," and he then translates more literally 
than elegantly, "it does not permit itself to be read." 

In the article on Longfellow s Ballads, 12 Poe mentions 
Count Bielf eld s definition of poetry as "L art d exprimer les 
pensees par la fiction," and our author adds: "With this defi 
nition (of which the philosophy is profound to a certain 
extent) the German terms Dichtkunst, the art of fiction, and 
dichten, to feign, which are used for poetry, and to make 
verses, are in full and remarkable accordance." 

While editor of Graham s Magazine, 1840-1841, Poe was 
much interested in cryptography and advertised in the maga 
zine, inviting his readers to invent secret writings and sub 
mit them to him for solution. "Yet any one who will take 
the trouble may address us a note, in the same manner as 
here proposed, and the key phrase may be either in French, 
Italian, Spanish, German, Latin or Greek (or in any of the 
dialects of these languages), and we pledge ourselves for the 



lOHarrison, Vol. XVI, page 166. 
Ulngram, Vol. Ill, page 477. 
l2Harrison, Vol. XVI, page 74. 



26 Palmer Cobb 

solution of the riddle." 13 Poe received responses to his invita 
tion, and did actually solve all the riddles which were sub 
mitted to him. 

Prof. Gruener, in an article. in Modern Philology, Vol. 2, 
page 125. entitled Poe s Knowledge of German,** argues in 
favor of Poe s ability to read German. Prof. Gruener enum 
erates, in part, the evidence given here, and in addition calls 
attention to a German motto which appeared on the title 
page of Poe s Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. The 
motto in question is a verse from Goethe s Die Gottin: 
Seltsamer Tochter Jovis, 
Seinem Schlosskind, 
Der Phantasie 

Prof. Gruener also adduces as evidence a passage in Poe s 
Eureka translated from Alexander Humboldt s Kosmos. 
Previous to the publication of Eureka, two translations of 
this work had appeared; one by Prichard, London, 1845, 
another by Col. Sabine, London, 1847. The passage referred 
to is to be found in the Kosmos, Vol. i, page 151: 

Betrachtet man die nicht perspectivischen eigenen Be- 
wegungen der Sterne, so scheinen viele gruppenweise 
in ihrer Richtung entgegengesetzt; und die bisher 
gesammelten Thatsachen machen es aufs wenigste 
nicht nothwendig, dass alle Theile unserer Sternen- 
schicht oder gar der|gesammten Sterneninseln, welche 
den Weltraum fiillen, sich um einen grossen, unbe- 
kannten, leuchtenden oder dunkel Centralkorper 
bewegen. Das Streben nach den letzten und hochslen 
Grundursachen macht freilich die reflectirende Thatig- 
keit des Meschen, wie seine Phantasie, zu einer solchen 
Annahme geneigt. 
Prichard s translation of the passage 16 reads: 



iSHarrison, Vol. XIV, page 124. 

l^The attention of the author was called to this article after the foregoing 
had been completed. 
i6Vol. I, page 154. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 27 

If the non-perspective, proper motion of the stars be 
considered, many of them appear group-wise opposed 
in their directions; and the data hitherto collected 
make it at least not necessary to suppose that all parts 
of our astral system, or the whole of the star islands 
which fill the universe, are in motion about any great 
unknown luminous or non-luminous central mass. The 
long-ing- to reach the last or highest fundamental 
cause, indeed, renders the reflecting faculty of man, as 
well as his fancy, disposed to adopt such a proposi 
tion. 
Sabine s translation 17 is as follows: 

If we consider the proper motions of the stars, as con 
tradistinguished from their apparent or perspective 
motions, their directions are various; it is not, there 
fore, a necessary conclusion, either that all parts of 
our astral system, or that all the systems which fill 
universal space, revolve around one great undiscovered 
luminous or non-luminous central body, however 
naturally we may be disposed to an inference which 
would gratify alike the imaginative faculty and that 
intellectual activity which ever seeks after the last and 
highest generalization. 
Poe s translation 16 reads: 

When we regard the real, proper, or non-perspective 
motions of the stars, we find many groups of them 
moving in opposite directions; and the data as yet in 
hand render it not necessary at least to conceive that 
the systems composing the Milky Way, or the clusters 
generally composing the Universe, are revolving about 
any particular centre unknown, whether luminous or 
non-luminous. It is but man s longing for a funda 
mental First Cause that impels both his intellect and 
fancy to the adoption of such an hypothesis. 



"Vol. I, page 135. 

iSHarrison, Vol. XVI, page 299. 



28 Palmer Cobb 

Relative to the passage which Poe quotes from Novalis, 
Prof, Gruener notes that it had appeared in a volume entitled 
Fragments from German Prose Writers, translated by Sarah 
Austin, London, 1841. Poe s story, The Mystery of Marte 
Roget, in which the passage from Novalis is used as a 
motto, appeared in November, 1842. But Poe s translation 
of the passage and that of Mrs. Austin diverge as radically 
as do the foregoing versions of the passage from the Kos- 
mos. 

In Poe s story, The Premature Burial, he recounts several 
supposedly authentic cases of persons having been buried 
alive. One of his instances he says he has found in "a late 
number" of the "Chirurgical Journal" of Leipsic. 19 Prof. 
Gruener suggests that Poe was perhaps in the habit of con 
sulting this journal in search of novel material, and that he 
did actually read the story in the original. A search of all 
the medical periodicals in the libraries of Berlin for the 
period 1834-1844 (Poe s Premature Burial was published in 
1844) failed to result in a discovery of the case cited by Poe, 
although, at that time, there was apparently a lively interest 
in the subject among surgeons and numerous similar cases 
were recorded. 

The same story affords some evidence of Poe s unreli 
ability as to his statement concerning his source. In addi 
tion to the case of premature burial just mentioned, Poe 
gives in the same story the facts in another case; that of a 
young woman rescued from her grave by her lover. Poe 
states that this event occurred in Paris in the year 1810, and 
gives the names of the persons concerned. This latter is a 
very commonly quoted case, and can be traced in various 
slightly different forms as far back as the year 1754. 20 

The same story appears also in the following works: 

"Uber die Ungewissheit desTodes und das einzige untriig- 
liche Mittel sich von seiner Wirklichkeit zu iiberzeugen." 
C. M. Hufeland, Weimar, 1791. 



l9Harrison, Vol. V, page 299. 
SOBmhier. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 29 

"Beweis, dass einigfe L^eute lebendig- konnen begraben 
werden." J. P. Brinckmann, Diisseldorf, Cleve, und Leipzig-, 
1772. 

The same story is found in the Causes Cefebres, and this 
is probably the source of all the other versions. Bruhier 
states that this is his source. Poe states that the event 
occurred in Paris in 1810, and provides the persons concerned 
with names. It would seem, then, that his statement relative 
to the source of the other case which he says he took from the 
Chirurgical Journal of Leipsic tnig-ht be regarded also as some 
what untrustworthy. 

So much we may deduce with certainty from the fore- 
g-oing-. First, that in England and America, in the Thirties 
and Forties, there was a lively interest in German contem 
porary literature. Secondly, that Poe as a rnag-azine editor 
was thoroug-hly en rapport with this wave of interest, and 
that among- his favorite reading- he counted some of the 
secondary productions (meaning- probably Hoffmann) of Ger 
man literature. Finally, the American author possessed at 
least an ability to read German in the original, thoug-h in 
view of the meagreness of the information which we have 
concerning- his life, it is impossible to discover when and 
where he acquired this ability. 

It now remains for us to see what echo of his German 
reading- we find in his own work. 

In this connection it is interesting- to take account of cer 
tain utterances of Poe with reference to his theory of the tale. 
A skilful literary artist has constructed a tale. If * 
wise, he has not fashioned his thoughts to accommo 
date his incidents; but, haviug- conceived with deliber 
ate care a certain unique or single effect to be wroug-ht 
out, he then invents such incidents he then combines 
such events as may best aid him in establishing- this 

preconceived effect And here it will be seen 

how full of prejudice are the usual animadversions 

aiVol. 8, page 452. 



30 Palmer Cobb 

against those tales of effect, many fine examples of 
which were found in the earlier numbers of Black- 
-wood. 

It was worth noting- that Hoffmann s Elixiere des Teufeh 
appeared in an "early number of Black-wood" for 1824. 

We have a similar utterance on the same subject in the 
Philosophy of Composition.^ 

Y I prefer commencing- with the consideration of an 
effect. Keeping originality always in view for he is 
false to himself who ventures to dispense with so 
obvious and so easily attainable a source ol interest I 
say to myself in the first place, Of the innumerable 
effects or impressions of which the heart, the intellect, 
or (more generally) the soul is susceptible, what one 
shall I, on the present occasion, select? Having 
chosen a novel, first, and secondly, a vivid, effect, I 
consider whether it can be best wrought by incident or 
tone whether by ordinary incidents and peculiar tone, 
or the converse, or by peculiarity both of incident and 
tone afterwards looking about me (or rather within) 
for such combinations of event or tone as shall best aid 
me in the construction of the effect. 

The last sentence, especially the phrase "looking about 
me (or rather within) for such combinations," is signif 
icant. Poe has placed the words "or rather within" in paren 
theses, lest the foregoing might be construed as a confession 
of his literary borrowings. 

In looking about him for combinations of event or tone, 
what did he find that was serviceable among the productions 
of the German romanticists? 



22Ingram, vol. IX, pages 216, 217. 
28Ingram, vol. Ill, page 266. 



CHAPTER IV 

HOFFMANN S Elixiere des Teufels AND POE S 
William Wilson 

A motive which Fouque, Novalis and Hoffmann have al 
used in their narratives is that of the double existence. The 
idea is that the personality is divided into two parts and that 
the individual leads then a double existence, mental and 
physical. The motive appears in Fouque s Zaubernng 
rather as a minor incident. Tt plays a role of secondary 
importance. In the second part of Fouque s novel (chapter 
13), the young- German knight, Otto von Trautwangen, 
meets, in a combat with the Finns, another knight in 
armor who is his exact double. The mystery is explained 
by the fact that both men are the sons of one father by 
different mothers. 

Novalis has also made use of the idea in Ofterdingen, 
where various personages are in the end revealed as one and 
the same. And Heinrich himself is the poet of Klingsor s 
Miirchen.* One of Novalis s Fragments reads: "A really 
synthetic person is a person who is several persons at once, 
a genius." 2 

It is one of Hoffmann s favorite themes. He drew from 
life. He was frequently haunted by the idea that he was 
being pursued by his double. 3 The idea is the basic one in 
the story of the Doppelganger. It occurs also in Kater Murr, 
and plays a large role in the Elixiere des Teufels. It is from 
the latter story that Poe drew suggestions, which, according 
to his method, he combined and transformed in his narative, 
William Wilson, 



1 Heilborn, Vol. I, page 191. 

2 Just Bing, page 120. 

3 Ellinger, page 121. 



32 Palmer Cobb 

In Hoffmann s tale a monk relates the story of his life. 
He begins with his childhood, passes rapidly to his reception 
in the monastery, and describes with great exactness 
events and persons which are of importance in the develop 
ment of his own destiny. We follow minutely the course of 
his life. We learn of the temptations which beset him, how 
the germ of evil in his soul, at first infinitesimal, grows and 
waxes strong, and finally overpowers and drives him from 
the monastery and into a life of vice and crime. We learn 
further of his repentance, heavy penance, and his return to 
his monastery. He writes the story of his life on the eve of 
death. 

The first chapter deals with the life of the monk, Medar- 
dus, in the monastery. The underlying idea of the chapter 
is to depict the gradual growth of evil in Medardus. This 
is motivated first by the awakening of the sexual impulse, 
and secondly by a fiction of certain elixirs of the devil, from 
which latter incident the story takes its name. Medardus, 
the hero, is custodian of the relics of the monastery, and 
among these are certain flasks of wine which St. Anthony 
had received from the devil, in a temptation to which the 
former was subjected in the wilderness. Medardus succumbs 
to the temptation to drink of the wine; and the effect is a 
magical growth of evil in his soul, which constantly increases 
and finally overpowers him. 

The next chapter deals with Medardus s entrance into the 
world. He is sent by his Prior on a mission to Rome. 
Traveling through the mountains, Medardus comes suddenly 
upon. a man lying asleep over a precipice. Stasrtled out of 
his sleep by the sudden appearance of the monk, he falls over 
the precipice and, as Medardus supposes, meets his death. 
This incident marks a turning point in the monk s career. 
He supposes himself a murderer, and from that time on his 
life is a history of crime. We learn later that this stranger 
is Graf Viktorin, a half brother of Medardus, and the latter s 
exact counterpart as to figure and appearance. Viktorin has 
not been killed but has received wounds which resulted in 
insanity. His insanity takes the remarkable form that he 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 33 

believes himself to be the monk Medardus. In this fashion 
Hoffmann works out the fiction of the double existence on 
quite natural grounds. 

Viktorin is involved in an illicit relationship with the 
wife of a nobleman, whose castle lies in the immediate vicin 
ity. Medardus enters the castle, and is mistaken by the 
Baroness for her lover Viktorin in the garb of a monk. He 
assumes Viktorin s role, but becomes enamored also of the 
daughter of the house, and in an attempt to seduce her he is 
forced to flee from the castle, murdering- in his flight the son 
of the house, Hermogen, who attempts to stop him. Fleeing 
from the castle, Medardus is for the first time confronted by 
his blood-stained double, who utters the very words which 
the monk himself has in mind. 

The third chapter gives a series of adventures, of which 
the principal one takes place at a lonely hunting" lodge in 
the midst of the forest. Medardus has discarded his monk s 
garb, and is traveling as a private gentleman. His carriage 
breaks down in the forest and he is received by the forester 
in the latter s home for a short time. In the middle of the 
night his double appears, clothed in a monk s cassock. The 
following morning Medardus learns that an insane monk is 
being harbored by the forester. The latter believes him to 
be the monk Medardus, of whose disappearance he has heard. 
The supposed monk is of course Viktorin. 

We next find Medardus at the court of a prince, where he 
mingles freely with the society of the court. Among the 
ladies of the court is that Aurelie, the daughter of the Baron 
of the previous chapter, whom Medardus attempted to 
seduce. Aurelie recognizes him as the murderer of her 
brother. He is imprisoned and about to be executed when he 
is saved by the intervention of the insane Viktorin, who 
declares (and believes) that he is the monk Medardus. The 
real Medardus is liberated and is about to be married to 
Aurelie, when he falls a victim to insanity, attempts to mur 
der his bride, and flees from court. In prison and in his 
flight from the castle, Medardus is repeatedly visited by his 
double with terrorizing effect. 



34 Palmer Cobb 

We find Medardus next in Italy, recovered from his insan 
ity, and in repentant mood. He passes some time in a mon 
astery near Rome, confesses the story of his life to the prior, 
and submits himself to the severest penance. Here also, as 
everywhere, he is visited by his tormentor in the shape of 
his double. He is received by the Pope, wins notoriety by 
his conspicuous piety, and finally returns to his own monas 
tery. He learns that Aurelie is about to take the vows as a 
nun in a neighboring convent. During the ceremony of con 
secration she is murdered by Medardus s insane double, Vik- 
torin. With her death Medardus wins his victory over the 
evil. 

Poe s story, as compared with that of Hoffmann, is greatly 
reduced and constructed with infinitely more simplicity. 
Here also the hero relates his own story. We are introduced 
first to a school for boys in England, the life of which in its 
simplicity and monastic monotony bears much resemblance 
to that of the youthful Medardus in his monastery. The 
idea of Poe s story is also the contention of the good 
with the evil for supremacy. William Wilson learns that in 
the school there is another pupil of the same name, and by a 
singular coincidence his counterpart in appearance and, as 
we learn later, born on the same day. The two lads are 
also of similar coustitution mentally, both imperious, and 
rivals for leadership among their fellow-pupils. Outwardly, 
the two boys are friendly, but inwardly both are conscious of 
their rivalry. We are told also that a favorite device of 
William Wilson the Second for annoying his rival, William 
Wilson the First, was an exact imitation of the latter as to 
personal appearance, gait, manners, and above all as to voice 
and speech. There is no explanation of the relationship 
between the two boys, and at first no suggestion of the 
supernatural; nothing more than a striking resemblance. 
Finally, the first William Wilson, in playing a practical 
joke on his namesake, slips into the latter s room at night, 
draws aside the curtains of the bed in preparation for the 
perpetration of the joke, and is suddenly overcome and hor- 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 35 

rifled by the idea that it is his double who lies before him 
in sleep. He rushes from the room and from the school, 
never to return again. This incident is the first suggestion 
of a supernatural relationship between the two. 

The narrator mentions briefly his course of vice and crime 
of the next few years, and describes next a night of excess at 
Eton. Surrounded by his boon companions, flushed with 
wine and in the midst of their orgies, William Wilson is 
summoned to the door by a visitor. In the darkness he dis 
tinguishes the form of his double, and hears the words, Wil 
liam Wilson, in a solemn whisper. After which, the appar 
ition disappears. 

A similar scene is described at Oxford, where William 
Wilson, having ruined a fellow-student at cards by fraudu 
lent play, is exposed by the appearance of his double, who 
explains to the company the secret of Wilson s winnings, 
namely, cards hidden in his sleeve. 

The hero is everywhere relentlessly pursued by his double. 
Villain! at Rome, with how untimely, yet with how 
spectral, an officiousness stepped he in between me and 
my ambition! At Vienna too at Berlin and at 
Moscow! Where, in truth, had I not bitter cause to 
curse him within my heart? From his inscrutable 
tyranny did I at length flee, panic-stricken, as if from 
a pestilence; and to the very ends of the earth I fled in 
vain. 4 

The culminating scene is described in Rome during the 
carnival time. The double appears again to frustrate Wil 
son s plan. This time it is a question of a love intrigue with 
the young wife of an old Roman nobleman. Wilson, in a 
frenzy of rage, seizes his double and challenges him to fight. 
In the duel which follows the double is killed, his death typi-^ 
fying the final extinction of the good in William Wilson s * 
heart. 



Harrison, Vol. Ill, page 321. 



36 Palmer Cobb 

The idea on which both narratives are constructed is the 
simple one of the contention of two inimical forces in a man s 
soul; the evil and the good, struggling- for supremacy and 
final victory. In carrying out the idea, both authors have 
availed themselves of the device of a double existence to 
achieve their purpose. Such a division of the human person 
ality they have romanticized by the fiction of two selves, 
physical as well as mental, both of which are well nigh iden 
tical as to physical appearance and as to mental characteris 
tics. One self is the type of the good, the other is the 
embodiment of the evil. The atmosphere of mystery thus 
created works an effect of terror, as, in the successive stages 
of the development of the story, the hero at some critical 
point of the narrative is confronted by his double. This in 
general is the basic idea which Poe has borrowed from Hoff 
mann. 

The German traces the growth and struggle of evil, in his 
hero s life, very minutely. We observe the first foothold 
which the "dunkle Macht" wins in Medardus s soul, and we 
trace the growth of this germ of evil step by step, until with 
giant power it plunges the victim into an abyss of crime. 
Early in Medardus s career, we find reference to the evil 
which is beginning to beset him. His sermons are charac 
terized by unusual eloquence, and the fame which he wins by 
them arouses his vanity. In a letter from his patroness, the 
abbess, we hear: 

Der Geist des Truges ist in Dich gef ahren, und wird 
Dich verderben, wenn Du nicht in Dich gehst und der 
Siinde entsagest . . Der heilige Bernardus, den Du 
durch Deine triigerische Rede so schnode beleidigt, 
moge Dir nach seiner himmlischen I/angmut verzeihen, 
ja Dich erleuchten, dass Du den rechten Pfad, von dem 
Du durch den Bosen verlockt abgewichen, wieder find- 
est, und er furbitten konne fur das Heil Deiner Seele. 5 



5 Grisebach, Vol. II, page 37. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 






The references to this evil force in Medardus s life are to 
be found on almost every page. The Baroness relates to 
Medardus that their secret relation is suspected by Hermogen 
as follows: 

In allerlei Andeutungen, die gleich schauerlichen 
entsetzlichen Spruchen einer dunklen Macht, die iiber 
uns waltet, lauten, hat er (Hermogen) dem Baron 
einen Verdacht eingeflosst, der ohne deutlich ausge- 
sprochen zu sein mich doch auf qualende Weise ver- 
folgt. Wer du bist, dass unter diesem heiligen Kleide 
Graf Viktorin verborgen, das scheint Hermogen durch- 
aus verschlossen geblieben; dagegen behauptet er, 
aller Verrat, alle Arglist, alles Verderben, das iiber 
uns einbrechen werde, ruhe in dir, ja wie der Wider- 
sacher selbst, sei der Monch in das Haus getreten, der 
von teuflischer Macht beseelt, verdammten Verrat 
brute. 6 

On the eve of his marriage with Aurelie, Medardus is 
overcome by this "teuflische Macht." From a window he 
sees his double being carried to execution for crimes which he 
has committed. 

Da wurden die Geister der Holle in mir wach, und 
baumten sich auf mit Gewalt, die ihnen verliehen tiber 
den frevelnden vurruchten Sunder. 7 

Medardus relates his life to the Pope, and we hear again 
of this evil power: 

Glaubt Ihr, dass der Wein, den Ihr aus der Reliquien- 
kammer stahlet und austranket, Kuch zu den Freveln 
trieb, die Ihr beginget? 
The answer comes: 

Wie ein von giftigen Dunsten geschwangertes Was- 
ser gab er Kraft dem bosen Keim, der in mir ruhete, 
dass er fortzuwuchern vermochte. 8 



6 Grisebach, Vol. II, page 70. 

7 Grisebach, Vol. II, "page 199. 

8 Grisebach, Vol. II, page 239. 



38 Palmer Cobb 

Again Medardus recapitulates himself this growth of evil 
in his soul. He calls himself "einen muthlosen Feigling" 
without strength to resist the devil. 

Gering war der Keim des Bosen in mir, als ich des 
Konzertmeisters Schwester sah, als der frevelige Stolz 
in mir erwachte, aber da spielte mir der Satan jenes 
Klixier in die Hande, das mein Blut wie ein verdamm- 
tes Gift in Garung setzte .... Wie eine phy- 
sische Krankheit, von jenem Gift erzeugt, brach die 
Sihide hervor. 9 

We follow exactly the same development in Poe s tale. 
Hoffmann rescues his hero at the end from the "dunkle 
Macht." Poe gives the victory to the evil force. Medardus 
writes the story of his life when he has, in a measure at 
least, conquered the devil and gained peace, William Wil 
son narrates his story when he realizes that he is hopelessly 
lost, his soul a forfeit to the powers of darkness. Hoffmann s 
narrative takes the reader up to the point where his hero 
gains the victory. Poe s tale ends at the point where Wilson 
finally and definitely destroys the last germ of good still 
extant in his soul. We are told in the beginning that the 
remainder of his life was a history of crime and debauch. 
Medardus and William Wilson both write their histories as 
they feel the approach of death. 

The history of Medardus s struggle against the evil which 
has been traced finds its exact counterpart on the first page 
of William Wilson s story. We hear at once: 

From comparatively trival wickedness I passed, with 
the stride of a giant, into more than the enormities of 
an Elagabalus. What chance what one event 
brought this thing to pass, bear with me while I relate. 
Death approaches, and the shadow which foreruns him 
has thrown a softening influence over my spirit. I 
long in passing through the dim valley for the sympa 
thy, I had nearly said for the pity, of my fellow-men. 
I would fain have them believe that I have been in 
some measure the slave of circumstances beyond human 



r 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 39 

control. I would wish them to seek out for me, in the 

details I am about to give, some little oasis of fatality 

amid a wilderness of error. I would have them allow, 

what they cannot refrain from allowing, that although 

temptation may have erewhile existed as great, man 

was never thus at least tempted before, certainly never 

thus fell. And is it therefore that he has never thus 

suffered? Have I not indeed been living in a dream? 

And am I not now dying a victim to the horror and the 

mystery of the wildest of all sublunary visions? 10 

Medardus s "Gering war der Keim des Bosen in mir" is 

Wilson s "comparatively trivial wickedness" with which the 

latter begins his career. Hoffmann s "dunkle Macht," "das 

vom Teufel beseelte Prinzip," "der bose Feind," find their 

counterpart in Poe s "slave of circumstances beyond human 

control," "oasis of fatality amid a wilderness of error," and 

the greatness and character of his hero s "temptation." 

Of Wilson s life at Eton we hear also: 

I do not wish to trace the course of my miserable pro 
fligacy here a profligacy which set at defiance the 
laws, while it eluded the vigilance of the institution 
(Eton). 
Again: 

Let it suffice, that among spendthrifts I out-Heroded 
Herod, and that, giving name to a multitude of novel 
follies, I added no brief appendix to the long catalogue 
of vices then usual in the most dissolute university of 
Europe (Oxford) . 

The climactic scene in Wilson s career is the final one of 
the story. It is the duel with his double. It is also the 
climax, or rather the decisive event, in the contest of the 
good and evil. 

The contest was brief indeed. I was frantic with 
every species of wild excitement, and felt within my 
single arm the energy and power of a multitude. In a 



lOHarrison, Vol. XIV, page 299. 



40 Palmer Cobb 

few seconds I forced him by sheer strength against the 
wainscoting-, and thus, getting him at mercy, plunged 
my sword with brutal ferocity repeatedly through and 
through his bosom. At that instant some person tried 
the latch of the door. I hastened to prevent an intru 
sion, and then immediately returned to my dying 
antagonist. But what human language can ade 
quately portray that astonishment, that horror which 
possessed me at the spectacle then presented to view? 
The brief moment in which I averted my eyes had been 
sufficient to produce apparently a material change in 
the arrangements at the upper or farther end of the 
room. A large mirror so at first it seemed to me in 
my confusion now stood where none had been per 
ceptible before; and, as I stepped up to it in extremity 
of terror, mine own image, but with features all pale 
and dabbled in blood, advanced to meet me with a 
feeble and tottering gait. 

Thus it appeared, I say, but was not. It was my 
antagonist it was Wilson who then stood before me 
in the agonies of his dissolution. His mask and cloak 
lay where he had thrown them upon the floor. Not a 
thread in all his raiment not a line in all the marked 
and singular lineaments of his face which was not, 
even in the most absolute identity, mine own\ 
It -was Wilson: but he spoke no longer in a whisper, and 
I could have fancied that I myself was speaking while 
he said: You have conquered and I yield. Yet, 
henceforth art thou also dead dead to the World, to 
Heaven, and to Hope! In me didst thou exist and, 
in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how 
utterly thou hast murdered thyself"" 

The death of his double is the death of the good principle 
in Wilson s life. "Dead to the world, to Heaven, and to 
Hope:" it is the triumph of evil, the ultimate extinction of 



HThe Italics are Poe s. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 41 

the good. It is what Medardus also fears and struggles 
against." 

Ich bin verflucht, ich bin verflucht! Keine Gnade 
kein Trost mehr, hier und dort! Zur Holle zur 
Holle ewige Verdamnis uber mich verruchten Sunder 
beschlossen. 
Again: 

O Gott o, all ihr Heiligen! lasst mich nicht wahn- 
sinnig werden, nur nicht wahnsinnig denn das 
Entsetzliche muss ich sonst thun, und meine Seele 
preisgeben der ewigen Verdamnis! 13 

Poe s very dramatic final scene is an adaptation of a 
motive in Hoffmann s story. The motive, as Hoffmann has 
used it, is entirely secondary. Poe, with a better estimate of 
its dramatic possibilities, has elevated it to the very climax 
of his story, with striking, almost startling effect. When 
Medardus, shortly after leaving his monastery on his trip to 
Rome, comes upon his brother-double sleeping in the forest, 
the latter, startled suddenly out of his sleep by the appear 
ance of the monk, falls over a precipice, and as Medardus 
supposes, meets his death. For a long period of time the 
monk supposes that he has been the cause of Viktorin s 
death. 

Seinen scheinbaren Tod, vielleicht das leere Blend werk 

des Teufels, musste ich mtr zuschreiben. Die That 

machte mich vertraut mit dem Gedanken des Mordes, 

der dem teuflischen Trug folgte. So war der in ver- 

ruchter Sunde erzeugte Bruder das vom Teufel beseelte 

Prinzip, das mich in die abscheulichsten Frevel sturzte 

und mich mit den grasslichen Qualen umhertrieb. 14 

In other words, the supposed death of his double, which 

Medardus ascribes to himself, acquaints him with crime. It 

is the initial act of crime, which introduces the series of 



i2Griseba,ch s, Vol. II, page 213. 
l3Grisebach, Vol. II, page 272. 
l4Grisebach, Vol. II, page 277. 



42 Palmer Cobb 

crimes which follows. Poe has taken exactly the same notion, 
and made it the climax of his narrative. In the real death 
of William Wilson s double, the last spark of good in the 
former s soul is extinguished, and like Medardus, what fol 
lows is a history of crime. The seeming death of Medar- 
dus s double marks the seeming victory of sin in the monk s 
life. But Viktorin s death is only apparent, and Medardus 
in the end gains his victory. Wilson, on the contrary, kills 
his double in actual fact, and becomes thereby the victim of 
the evil for all time. 

The American author has adopted also Hoffmann s idea 
of the personification of the two powers in a man s soul. 
Medardus s double, Viktorin, is the personified incorporated 
principle of evil. William Wilson s double, on the other 
hand, is the living embodiment of the good principle. Both 
authors expressly state as much. Poe has ^taken this idea 
from Hoffmann, but in so doing he has inverted it. William 
Wilson s double is an agent of the good. 

Medardus s double, Viktorin, serves the power of evil. 
After Medardus confesses to the prior on his return to his 
monastery, the latter says: 

Ks ist gewiss, dass Viktorin auf wunderbare Weise 
errettet wurde aus dem Abgrunde, in den du ihn stiirz- 
test, dass er der wahnsinnige Monch war, den der 
Forster aufnahm, der dich als dein Doppelganger ver-^ 
folgte und hier im Kloster starb. Er diente der 
dunklen Macht, die in dein Leben eingriff, nur zum 
Spiel ach, Bruder Medardus, noch geht der Teuf el 
rastlos auf Krden umher, und bietet den Menschen 
seine Elixiere dar! 15 
And in the passage already quoted: 

So war der in verruchter Siinde erzeugte Bruder das 
vom 7^eufel beseelte Prinzip, das mich in die abscheu- 
lichsten Frevel stiirzte. u. s. w. 16 



iSGrisebach, Vol. II, pager 267. 
l6Grisebach, Vol. II, page 277. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 43 

Poe has used the same motive but has made William 
Wilson s double an agent of the good. We hear of the 
school days: 

Yet at this distant day, let me do him the simple jus 
tice to acknowledge that I can recall no occasion when 
the suggestions of my rival were on the side of those 
errors or follies so usual to his immature age and seem 
ing inexperience; that his moral sense, at least, if not 
his general talents and worldly wisdom, was far 
keener than my own; that I might have today been 
a better, and thus a happier man, had I less frequently 
rejected the counsels embodied in those meaning 
whispers which I then but too cordially hated and 
too bitterly despised. 17 

In the scenes at Eton and Oxford, the appearance of Wil 
liam Wilson s double is always with the intent of frustrating 
his vice or crime. At Eton for example: 

Upon my entering, he strode hurriedly up to me, and 
seizing me by the arm with a gesture of petulant 
impatience, whispered the words, "William Wilson!" in 
my ear. I grew perfectly sober in an instant. There 
was that in the manner of the stranger, and in the 
tremulous shake of his uplifted finger, as he held it 
between my eyes and the light, which filled me with 
unqualified amazement; but it was not this which had 
so violently moved me. 18 

Again, at Oxford, when the double exposes Wilson s 
cheating at cards: 

The darkness, however, was total and we could only 
feel that he was standing in our midst. "Gentlemen," 
he said, "Gentlemen, I make no apology for this 
behavior, because in thus behaving I am but fulfilling 
my duty." 



""Harrison, Vol. XIV, page 310. 
iSHarrison, Vol. XIV, page 314. 



I UNIVERSITY | 



44 Palmer Cobb 

And in the final scene, already quoted, the death of the 
double marks the extinction of the remaining 1 good. 

It is characteristic of Poe s story in general that he has 
taken certain secondary or minor incidents of the Hoffmann 
story and made them of prime importance in his narrative in 
the production of desired effects. Such a motive was Hoff 
mann s incident of the murder of Medardus s brother-double, 
and its baneful consequences; namely, the introduction of the 
monk to his subsequent career of crime. William Wilson s 
murder of his double forms the climax of Poe s story, and 
serves also as the climax of a series of crimes which closes 
forever the road to repentance, and makes Wilson for all 
time a slave of the evil. 

Another such a motive in Hoffmann s story is the whisper 
and the voice of the Doppelganger. Poe has appropriated 
this motive also and used it as a means of heightening- the 
mystery of his story. With Hoffmann, the exact correspond 
ence of voice and the whispered utterances of Medardus s 
double, are of no special significance. They are part and 
parcel of the general correspondence between Medardus and 
his double-brother. Poe has seized these two incidents to 
create an atmosphere of mysterious fatality, to transport his 
reader at once into the realm of the supernatural. 

In the appearance of the Doppelganger, while Medardus 
is in prison, there are the whispered tones: 

Endlich rief es leise, leise, abet wie mit hasslicher, 
heiserer, stammelnder Stimme, hintereinander fort: 
Medar-dus! Medar-dus! Ein Kisstrom goss sich mir 
durch die Glieder!" 
Again, in his flight after the scene with Aurelie: 

Als ich durch die finstre Nacht der Residenz zueilte, 
war es mir, als liefe jemand neben mir her, und als 

flusterte eine Stimme: "Imm immer bin ich bei di 

dir" 20 



i9Grisebach, Vol. II, page 158. 
20Grisebach, Vol. II, page 74. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 45 

Medardus does not know at times whether he is speaking, 
or whether it is the voice of his double which he hears. In 
his flight from the castle after the murder of Hermogen: 

Da lachte ich grim mi g auf, dass es durch den Saal, 
durch die Gauge drohnte, und rief mit schrecklicher 
Stimme: "Wahnwitzige, wollt ihr das VerhSnghis 
f ahen, das die frevelnden Sunder gerichtet?" Aber des 
grasslichen Anblicks! vor mir vor mir stand Vik- 
torins blutige Gestalt, nicht ich, er hatte die Worte 
gesprochen." 

Poe has made this whisper and correspondence of voice 
play a much larger and more effective role in his story. In 
the description of the life of the two boys at school, we learn 
that the favorite device of the second William Wilson for an 
noying his rival, was an exact imitation of his person, dress 
and voice. But the first William Wilson, owing to a phy 
sical defect of speech, could not raise his voice above a 
whisper: 

His cue, which was to perfect an imitation of myself, 
lay both in words and in action, and most admirably 
did he play his part. My dress it was an easy matter 
to copy; my gait and general manner were without 
difficulty appropriated; in spite of his constitutional 
defect, even my voice did not escape him. My louder 
tones were of course unattempted, but then the key, 
it was identical; and his singular whisper, it grew the 
very echo of my own. 
In the scene at Eton where the double appears: 

It was the pregnancy of solemn admonition in the 
singular, low, hissing utterance, and, above all, it was 
the character, the tone, the key, of those few, simple 
and familiar, yet whispered syllables, which came with 
a thousand thronging memories of by-gone days, and 
struck upon my soul with the shock of a galvanic bat 
tery. 



2iGrisebach Vol. II, pages 124-125. 



46 Palmer Cobb 

In the appearance of the double at Oxford: 

"Gentlemen," he said, in a low, distinct and never-to- 
be-forgotten whisper which thrilled to the very mar 
row of my bones, "gentlemen, I make no apology for 
this behavior." 

Poe uses everywhere italics to emphasize the whisper. In 
the final scene of the duel: 

It was Wilson; but he spoke no longer in a whisper, 
and I could have fancied that I myself was speaking 
while he said: 

Another incident which has its counterpart in Hoffmann s 
story is the gambling at Oxford. While Medardus is at the 
Prince s court, he is induced by the latter to take part in the 
games of faro which form the principal diversion of the 
Prince and the court. The result is that Medardus wins con 
stantly. The episode forms a part of Hoffmann s use of the 
supernatural. We are told that Medardus wins by favor of 
those evil forces which are then controlling his destiny. 

Es lag fur mich etwas Entsetzliches darin, dass, indem 
die gleichgiiltige Karte, die ich blindlings zog, in mir 
eine schmerzhafte herzzerreissende Erinnerung weckte, 
ich von einer unbekannten Macht ergriffen wurde, die 
das Gliick des Spiels, den losen Geldgewinn mir 
zuwarf, als entsprosse es aus meinem eignen Innern, 
als wenn ich selbst, jenes Wesen denkend, das aus der 
leblosen Karte mir mit gluhenden Farben entgegen- 
strahlte, dem Zufall gebieten konne, seine geheimsten 
Verschlingungen erkennend. 

William Wilson s gambling is a passion, a part of his 
depravity, and his winnings are explained on the ground 
of cheating: 

It could hardly be credited, however, that I had, even 
here, so utterly fallen from the gentlemanly estate as 
to seek acquaintance with the vilest arts of the gambler 
by profession, and having become an adept in his 
despicable science, to practice it habitually as a means 
of increasing my already enormous income at the 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 47 

expense of the weak-minded among- my fellow-colleg 
ians. Such, nevertheless, was the fact: 28 
The treatment of the supernatural by both authors shows 
a difference in degree only, and little in kind. Ellinger, Hoff 
mann s biographer, remarks: 

Der ganze eigenthumliche Zusammenhang zwischen 
Medardus und Viktorin einerseits und Medardus und 
Aurelie anderseits, die geheimnisvollen Beziehungen, 
die sich sonst gelegentlich ergeben, schweben auf der 
Grenze der Moglichkeit und sind von Hoffmann mit 
grosser Kunst auf dieser festgehalten. Sie sind in 
hohem Grade unwahrscheinlich, ganz ausgeschlossen 
sind sie, wenn man von einigen bereits beriihrten Kin- 
zelheiten absieht, nicht, und bei der eigenartigen 
Kraft, mit der der Dichter sie darzustellen gewusst 
hat, gewinnen sie eine solche lebensvolle Anschaulich- 
keit, dass es schwer ist, sich dem Banne der aus diesen 
Verhaltnissen sich ergebenden Vorstellungen zu 
entziehen. 

Again speaking of the relation between Medardus and 
Viktorin: 

Er (Viktorin) wird durch den Sturz wahnsinuig, und 
im Wahnsinn halt er sich fur den Medardus. Wie er 
Kenntnis von der Personlichheit des Medardus erhalten, 
sagt der Dichter nicht, doch lasst sich dafiir leicht eine 
Erklarung finden. Wenn er aber im Wahnsinn Dinge 
aus dem Leben des Medardus erzahlt, die kein Anderer 
als der eigentliche Medardus kennen kann, so treten 
wir aus dem gebiete des Wirklichen in das des Wunder- 
baren hinuber.* 3 

Poe goes a step further and takes his material entirely 
out of the realm of the natural. There is no explanation of 
the resemblance between the double hero, as in Hoffmann. 
It is the evident purpose of the American author to create a 
setting of the supernatural and to remove his reader wholly I 
out of the reasonable, to transport him to the realm of the 

22Harrison, Vol XIV, page 316. 
23Ellinger, pages 120, 121. 



48 Palmer Cobb 

inexplicable, and to create an impression of awe, even terror, 
by contact with the supernatural. As a means to this end, 
Poe uses with striking- effect the mysterious whisper as well 
as the identity of voice between the two doubles. 
Grisebach remarks also: 

Bei der Form der Mitteilung aus dem eigenen Leben, 
die Hoffmann gewahlt hat, konnte ein Dichter leicht 
der Versuchung nachgeben, alles Leben auf die Haupt- 
person zusammenzudrangen, das iibrige aber nur kurz 
und skizzenhaft zu behandeln. Hoffmann hat diese 
Gefahr durchaus zu vermeiden gewusst. 
Poe uses, of course, the same form of narrative, and he 
has done just what Hoffmann "knew how to avoid." But in 
so doing- he has achieved a more telling-, striking- effect than 
has the German author. In so doing he has sacrificed all 
detail, all characterization, and the love episode, in order to 
centre all action and interest around his double hero. Hoff 
mann vacillates on the border of the supernatural, crossing 
and re-crossing it, and leaving his reader in doubt as to 
whether the author himself believes in it or not. Poe leads 
at once, and boldly, into another world, and keeps us in this 
region of mystery, at least as long as we are reading his 
story. 

William Wilson is constructed after Poe s own receipt. 
He has started out to produce an effect of awe-inspiring mys 
tery, and he has gathered and gleaned such motives as best 
served his purpose, remolding them and fitting them together 
in such a way as to make of the finished product something 
all his own. In "looking about him for combinations of 
events or tone," he has drawn largely on Hoffmann: first, for 
the idea of the double existence, and secondly, for its typifi- 
cation of the good and evil forces in man s soul. Also, 
various other motives of minor importance in Hoffmann s 
story have been used by the American; such as the murder 
ing of the double with its consequent extinction of the good 
principle; the mysterious, solemn whisper, and the exact cor 
respondence of the double s voice; and, finally, the gambling 
proclivities of William Wilson. These all have their count 
erparts in Hoffmann s story. 



CHAPTER V 

HOFFMANN S Magnetiseur AND POK S Tale of the Ragged 

Mountains* 

\ 

Poe and Hoffmann, both ever alert for the novel and the 
fantastic, were powerfully attracted by the doctrines of Mes- 
mer and the theories of hypnotism. The absolute novelty of 
the discovery and the fact that its principles were but half 
understood, lent to the subject an additional charm of inter 
est. The disciples of the new theories tantalized themselves 
with promises of the discovery of many of the deep secrets of 
nature which have always allured and baffled the brain of 
man. Both authors busied themselves very earnestly with 
the study of the subject, and both turned to good account in 
their stories the results of their investigations. Among- Poe s 
best known stories are perhaps Mesmeric Revelations and The 
Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, both of which represent a 
flight of fancy into the realm of the unknown, motivated by 
the fiction of a conversation with a person hypnotized just 
previous to death. 

The doctrine of hypnotism plays more or less of a role in 
all of Hoffmann s stories. On almost every page of his works 
one finds such expressions as, "das hohere geistige Prinzip," 
"eine fremdliche feindliche Kraft," "innige geistige Verbin- 
dung," and a dozen other similar phrases, all savoring of the 
mystery of the influence of mind upon mind. In two of his 
stories, Der unheimliche Gast and Der Magnetiseur, Hoff 
mann has based plot and incident upon the hypnotic relation 
ship existing between his characters. The general features 
of both these stories agree, as Hoffmann himself points out. 1 

Aside from the large role which hypnotism plays in Poe s 
and Hoffmann s stories, they have also in common a large 
interest if not positive belief, in the doctrine of metempsycho- 

l Grisebach, Vol. I, page 131. 



50 Palmer Cobb 

sis. Both authors have used this singular belief in their 
stories. Ingram remarks 2 with reference to the story Ber 
enice : 

Among the peculiarities of the early draft of this work 

some of which disappeared in later versions it will 

be noted by his readers, is the first development of Poe s 

assumed belief in metempsychosis, a doctrine that, in 

subsequent writings, he recurred to again and again, 

and which it is scarcely assuming too much to say at 

times he evidently partially believed in. 

This doctrine forms the basic idea of the stories Ligeia, 

Morella, and Eleanora, and plays more or less of a part in 

several other tales. 

Hoffmann s collection of stories which he calls the Serapi- 
onsbruder (from which Poe got his idea of the Folio Club) 
takes its title from the story of the hermit monk Serapion, 
whose insanity consists in the belief that he is the martyred 
monk Serapion, whose death had occurred four hundred years 
previous to the time in which the story is told. Hoffmann, 
with a characteristic mixture of realism and mystery, makes 
his monk insane, but makes the wisdom of his insanity supe 
rior to that of the sanity of his fellows, who try to convince 
Serapion that he is suffering from monomania or a fixed idea. 
In the end, Hoffmann leaves his reader with the idea that the 
monk is sane and the rest of the world too ignorant to under 
stand him. The new club is dedicated to this monk Serapion, 
the members style themselves the "Serapionsbriider," and 
"das echt-Serapionische" is the standard of excellence set up 
for their productions. 

There is nothing singular in the fact that both authors 
should have evinced strong interest in hypnotism and in the 
doctrine of metempsychosis, nor does the fact that they both 
used these motives in their stories necessarily imply an influ 
ence of the one upon the other. But when we find both of 
these motives united in one story, and worked out with almost 



2 Page 101. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 51 

exact similarity of motivation and even detail, and when we 
consider the novelty of the idea, it is safe to assume that the 
two authors did not accidentally hit upon the same singular 
combination of singular motives, without the one having 
received a suggestion from the otherr In Poe s Tale of the & 
Ragged Mountains, and in Hoffmann s Magnetiseur we find 
a union of the doctrines of hypnotism and metempsychosis, 
and both interwoven with almost exact correspondence in the 
work of both authors. The similarity manifests itself not 
only in general outlines, but is evident even in unimportant 
details, so as to form a consecutive thread of resemblance. 
It is worth noting also in this connection that the tale Morella, / 
in which Poe expresses his interest in "those mystical writ 
ings which are usually considered the mere dross of German 
literature," is also the story in which his fancy for the doc 
trine of metempsychosis is most unmistakably expressed. 
Throughout the story, Poe has in mind, evidently, his Ger 
man reading. Besides these "mystical writings" of German 
literature, we hear in the same story of the "pantheism of 
Pichte," and "the doctrine of Identity as urged by Schel- 
ling." In thus writing on the subject Poe admits, more or 
less, a German source for his interest in the subject. But it 
is in the Tale of the Ragged Mountains that he has drawn 
most closely on Hoffmann, from the latter s Magnetiseur. 

Hoffmann s tale suffers somewhat from lack of unity. 
There are three distinct elements in the story, all of which 
are somewhat loosely joined together by the participation of 
the same persons in all three of the incidents. We are first 
introduced to a family group, the members of which are gath 
ered around a cheerful fire on a stormy autumn evening, and 
engaged in a lively discussion of the nature of dreams. This 
serves as an introduction to a story which the Baron, the 
head of the family, is induced to relate. The story in ques 
tion has to do with a dream or experience of his youth. He 
proceeds to describe one of his instructors, an officer of colos 
sal stature, gaunt, lean, and with a "burning glance." Hoff 
mann builds up an atmosphere of mystery around this Danish 



52 Palmer Cobb 

major by the description of his person, various personal attri 
butes, and finally by the hypnotic influence which he exerted 
on his pupils. 

Im hochsten Grad jahzornig, konnte ihn ein Wort, ein 
Blick, in Wuth setzen. Er bestrafte die Zoglinge mit 
ausgedachter Grausamkeit, und doch hing alles an ihm 
auf eine ganz unbegreifliche Weise. 3 

The Baron tells also of the influence of the Major on him, 
and comes at last to the climax of the story, in which he sees 
in a dream the Major enter his room, and hears the words, 

Armes Menschenkind, erkenne deinen Meister und 
Herrn .... Ich bin dein Gott, der dein Inner- 
stes durchschaut, und alles, was du darin jemals verbor- 
gen hast oder verbergen willst, liegt hell und klar vor 
mir. 

The Baron awakes out of his dream as the Major plunges 
a dagger into the dreamer s brain. Terrified, the Baron 
throws open his window and sees the Major disappearing 
through the garden into the open country beyond. The 
mystery of the situation is enhanced by the fact that all 
doors and exits are locked and there is no natural way to 
explain the Major s presence in the garden. Other inmates 
of the house being aroused, they break into the Major s room 
and find him lying dead in his blood. 

The Baron ends his story thus, a general discussion is 
again resumed, and we hear next a second dream-story from 
the Baron s son, Ottmar. The latter has his story from his 
friend Alban, who is a convert to hypnotism, or, as Hoffmann 
terms it, magnetism. The relation of characters is somewhat 
confusing. Ottmar relates the story as he has heard it from 
his friend Alban, and the story deals in its turn with another 
friend of Alban s, Theobald, who is not otherwise concerned 
in the action, and a stranger to the group in which the tales 
are being related. Theobald is described as follows: 

Seine ganze Musse und daher sein Leben wollte er 
dazu verwenden. soviel als moglich in die geheimnis- 



SGrisebach, Vol. I, page 143. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 53 

vollsten Tiefen der psychischen Einwirkungen zu drin- 
gen, und fortwahrend seinen Geist fester und fester 
darauf fixierend, sich rein erhaltend von allem dem 
Widerstrebenden ein wiirdiger I/ehrling der Natur zu 
werden. 4 

In Theobald s absence at the university, his fianeee comes 
under the influence of a stranger, an Italian officer, and 
becomes so enamored of the latter that she forgets her first 
lover. The story hinges about the theory of dreams. The 
girl is so beset by tormenting dreams of her Italian lover, 
who is absent on a campaign, that she falls into insanity. 
Theobald, returning home finds her in this condition. He 
applies his principles of hypnotism, and effects a cure. He 
proceeds in such a manner that the influence of his mind upon 
that of the girl is made to supersede the influence of the Ital 
ian. Gradually, Theobald supplants the Italian lover in her 
dreams, and she is restored. 

Auguste empfing ihn (Theobald) mit der hochsten 
Aufwallung der innigsten Liebe. Bald nachher ge- 
stand sie unter vielen Thranen, wie sie sich gegen 
ihn vergangen; wie es einem Fremden auf eine selt- 
same Weise gelungen, sie von ihm abwendig zu 
machen, so dass sie, wie von einer fremden Gewalt 
befangen, ganz aus ihrem eigenen Wesen herausge- 
raten sei, aber Theobalds wohlthatige Erscheinung in 
lebhaften Traiimen, habe die feindlichen Geister, die 
sie bestrickt, verjagt; ja, sie musse gestehen, dass sie 
jetzt nicht eiumal des Fremden atissere Gestalt sich ins 
Gedachtnis zuriickrufen konne, und nur Theobald lebe 
in ihrem Innern. 5 

This is the end of the second episode. The third element 
forms the real centre of the tale. As Ottmar finishes his 
narrative his sister Maria, who has been present during the 
narration of both tales, falls in a faint, and Ottmar s friend, 



4 Grisebach; Vol. I, page 154. 
SGrsiebach; Vol. I, page 157 



54 Palmer Cobb 

Alban, the "Magnetiseur," is called to attend her. The lat 
ter has been so attracted by Maria that he determines, 
although she is already betrothed, to bring her under the 
power of his will by means of hypnotic influence. Maria 
falls into a hypnotic trance, and Alban is called to attend her. 
He effects a cure, but in so doing succeeds in impressing his 
will and thought with such power upon her that she exists 
wholly within the sway of his will. Maria writes to her 
friend: 

Nur in diesem mit Ihm und in Ihm sein kann ich wahr- 
haftig leben, und es miisste, ware es ihm moglich, sich 
mir geistig ganz zu entziehn, mein Selbst, in toter Ode 
erstarren; ja, indem ich dieses schreibe, fiihle ich nur 
zu sehr, dass nur Kr es ist, der mir den Ausdruck gibt, 
mein Sein in ihm wenigstens anzudeuten. 6 
On her wedding day Maria falls dead at the altar, Alban 
flees, the bridegroom is killed in a duel with Ottmar, the old 
Baron dies of grief, and the story ends in general misery. 

At several points in the story the Baron expresses his dis 
trust of Alban. and finds a singular resemblance between him 
and the Danish Major of his story. On the eve of Maria s 
wedding, the old Baron, meeting Alban in the corridor, mis 
takes him for the Major in the flesh. The reader is left with 
the suggestion that the Danish Major of the first part of the 
story, and Alban, the "Magnetiseur," are one and the same 
person, although the Major is long since dead, and described 
as an old man in the Baron s youth, while Alban is of the 
same age as the Major s son. It is thus that Hoffmann uses 
the theory of metempsychosis. 

Poe s tale has the same elements, hypnotism, the 
metempsychosis theory, and the dreams and visions. As fre 
quently in Poe s tales, there is no love episode. We learn 
first of a singular relationship existing between the two 
characters of the story, Bedloe, an invalid, and his physician, 
Dr. Templeton. The Jatter is a disciple of Mesmer, and uses 



6 Grisebach, Vol. I, page 164. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 55 

the mesmeric method in the treatment of his patient. Poe 
briefly explains the relationship existing- between Bedloe and 
Templeton, and what follows, the real story, is an account of 
a dream or vision of Bedloe on a solitary walk in the moun 
tains ot Virginia, Growing- tired, he seats himself under a 
tree for rest. He is oppressed by the closeness of the atmo 
sphere. He observes suddenly that the tree under which he is 
sitting is a palm, the surrounding- mist rolls away, and a pan 
orama of the orient is unfolded to his view. 

I found myself at the foot of a high mountain, and 
looking down into a vast plain, through which wound 
a majestic river. On the margin of this river stood an 
Eastern-looking city, such as we read of in the Arabian 
Tales, but of a character even more singular than any 
there described .... The streets seemed innum 
erable, and crossed each other irregularly in all direc 
tions, but were rather long winding alleys than streets, 
and absolutely swarmed with inhabitants. On every 
hand was a wilderness of balconies, of verandas, of 
minarets, of shrines, and fantastically carved oriels. 
Bazaars abounded, and in these were displayed rich 
wares in infinite variety and profusion silks, muslins, 
the most dazzling cutlery, the most magnifiicent jew 
els and gems, etc. 7 

Bedloe arises and descends into the city. There every 
thing is tumult and confusion. Strife is raging between two 
factions of the populace. Bedloe joins the weaker party, is 
with his confreres overcome and compelled to seek refuge in 
a kiosk. From there he observes "a vast crowd, in furious 
agitation, surrounding and assaulting a gay palace that over 
hung the river. Presently from an upper window of this 
palace, there descended an effeminate-looking person, by 
means of a string made of the turbans of his attendants. A 
boat was at hand, in which he escaped to the opposite bank 
of the river." 8 In a sally from the kiosk he is struck by an 



7 Harrison, Vol. V, page 169. 

8 Harrison, Vol. V, page 172. 



56 Palmer Cobb 

arrow. "I reeled and fell. An instantaneous and dreadful 
sickness seized me. I struggled I gasped I died." When 
Bedloe comes to his original self again he is again in the 
mountains, and proceeding on his way home, after his walk. 
The narrative of the dream ends thus: "And not now, even 
for an instant, can I compel my understanding to regard it as 
a dream." 

At the conclusion of Bedloe s narrative, Dr. Templeton, 
Poe s "magnetiseur," who is present, produces a water-color 
portrait which is an exact likeness of Bedloe s features. The 
explanation is as follows: 

You will perceive the date of this picture it is here, 
scarcely visible, in this corner 1780. In this year 
was the portrait taken. It is the likeness of a dead 
friend a Mr. Oldeb to whom I became much 
attached at Calcutta, during the administration of 
Warren Hastings. I was then only twenty years old. 
When I first saw you, Mr. Bedloe, at Saratoga, it 
was the miraculous similarity which existed between 
yourself and the painting which induced me to accost 
you, to seek your friendship, and to bring about those 
arrangements which resulted in my becoming your con 
stant companion. In accomplishing this point, I was 
urged partly, and perhaps principally, by a regretful 
memory of the deceased, but also, in part, by an uneasy 
and not altogether horrorless curiosity respecting 
yourself. 

In your detail of the vision which presented itself to 
you amid the hills, you have described, with the minut 
est accuracy, the Indian city of Benares upon the Holy 
River. The riots, the combats, the massacre, were the 
actual events of the insurrection of Cheyte Sing, which 
took place in 1780, when Hastings was put in immi 
nent peril of his life. The man escaping by the string 
of turbans was Cheyte Sing himself. The party in the 
kiosk were sepoys and British officers headed by Hast 
ings. Of this party I was one, and did all I could to 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 57 

prevent the rash and fatal sally of the officer who fell, 
in the crowded alley, by the poisoned arrow of a Ben 
galee. That officer was my dearest friend. It was 
Oldeb. You will perceive by these manuscripts (here 
the speaker produced a note book in which several 
pages appeared to have been freshly written) that at 
the very period in which you fancied these things amid 
the hills, I was engaged in detailing them upon paper 
here at home. 9 

The tale ends with the death of Bedloe. The author s 
attention is attracted to it by the announcement in the paper 
of the death of a Mr. Bedlo. By a typographical error the 
name has been written without the e. The reader s attention 
is called to the fact that Bedlo is Oldeb reversed. Thus we 
have the same suggestion, Bedloe is the reincarnation of 
Oldeb, the doctrine of metempsychosis. 

Both author s have made use of hypnotism, metempsycho 
sis, and the phenomena of dreams. In both stories these 
singular motives are united. Poe and Hoffmann have built 
up their tales around the same general framework. 

The three parts of Hoffmann s story already outlined por 
tray a group of people all more or less subject to the will of 
the "magnetiseur," or hypnotist. In each case the centre of 
interest is a man of commanding will, who exerts a mesmeric 
influence over certain other persons of the tale. It is first 
the Danish major of the Baron s tale, who establishes this 
relationship between himself and his pupils. 

So hiess es von ihm, er konne das Peuer besprechen, 
und Krankheiten durch das Auflegen der Hande, ja 
durch den blossen Blick heilen, und ich erinnere mich, 
dass er einmal Leute, die durchaus von ihm auf diese 
Art geheilt sein wollten, mit Stockschlagen verjagte. 
. . . . Krfiillte mich nun mein Beisammensein mit 
ihm auch mit einem gewissen Wohlbehagen, so war es 
doch wieder eine gewisse Angst, das Gefuhl eines 



^Harrison, Vol. V, page 174. 



58 Palmer Cobb 

unwiderstehlichen Zwanges, das mich auf eine unna- 
tiirliche Art spannte, ja das mich innerlich erbeben 
machte. War ich lange bei ihm gewesen, ja hatte er 
mich besonders freundlich behandelt und mir, wie er 
denn zu tun pflegte, mit starr auf mich geheftetem 
Blick meine Hand in der seinigen festhaltend, allerlei 
Seltsames erzahlt, so konnte mich jene ganz eigne 
wunderbare Stimmung- biz zur hochsten Erschopfung 
treiben. 10 

In Ottmar s narrative, the same principle plays the chief 
role. 

Der wieder erweckte thierische Magnetismus sprach 
seine ganze Seele an, (Theobald) und indem er unter 
Albans Leitung eifrig alles, was je dariiber geschrie- 
ben, studirte, und selbst auf Erfahrungen ausging, 
wandte er sich bald, jedes phjsische Medium, als der 
tiefen Idee rein psychisch wirkender Naturkrafte 
zuwider, verwerfend, zu dem sogenannten barbareiis- 
chen Magnetismus, oder der alteren Schule der Spirit- 
ualisten. u. s. w." 

Theobald undertakes the cure of his fiancee by means of 
magnetism and the control of her dreams. The real crux of 
the story is the hypnotic relationship which exists between 
Alban and Maria. As the latter falls into a trance, Alban 
is called to attend her, and uses the magnetic treatment in 
her cure. Maria describes her recovery in a letter to her 
friend: 

Nun muss ich dir aber etwas Besonderes sagen nam- 
lich, was mein Genesen betrifft, das habe ich einem 
herrlichen Mann zu danken, den Ottmar schon friiher 
ins Haus gebracht, und der in der Residenz, unter all 
den grossen und geschickten Arzten der einzige sein 
soil, der das Geheimnis besitzt, eine solche sonderbare 
Krankheit, wie die meinige, schnell und sicher zu heilen 



lOGrisebach, Vol. I, page 143. 
HGrisebach, Vol. I, 153. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 59 

. . . . So wie Alban iiberhaupt in seiner Bildung, 
in seinem ganzen Betragen, eine gewisse Wiirde, ich 
mochte sagen, etwas Gebietendes hat, das ihn iiber 
seine Umgebung erhebt, so war es mir gleich, als er 
seinen ernsten durchdringenden Blick auf mich rich- 
tete; ich musste alles unbedingt thun, was er gebieten 
wiirde, und als ob er meine Genesung nur recht lebhaft 
wollen diirfe, um mich ganz herzustellen. 12 
We have also Alban s standpoint, in a letter to a friend. 
Maria fiel bald darauf in einen fantastichen Zustand, 
den Ottmar naturlicherweise fur eine neue Krankheit 
halten musste, und ich kam wieder als Arzt ins Haus, 
wie ich es vorausgesehen. Maria erkannte in mir den, 
der ihr schon oft in der Glorie der beherrschenden Macht 
als ihr Meister im Traum erschienen, und alles, was sie 
nur dunkel geahnet, sah sie nun hell und klar mit ihres 
Geistes Augen. Nur meines Blickes, meines festen 
Willens bedurfte es, sie in den sogenannten somnam- 
bulen Zustand zu versetzen, der nichts anders war, als 
das ganzliche Hinaustreten aus sich selbst und das 
L/eben in der hoheren Sphare des Meisters. Es war 
mein Geist, der sie dann willig aufnahm und ihr die 
Schwingen gab, dem Kerker, mit demsiedie Menschen 
iiberbaut hatten, zu entschweben. 

Thus the theme of the whole story is the mastery of one 
mind over another by means of hypnotism. The hypnotist 
proceeds gradually. He wins at first an influence, more or 
less powerful, over his subject. This is gradually increased 
till at length the subject is wholly subservient to the mas 
ter s will. A glance, or even the mere concentration of the 
hypnotist s will is sufficient to put the subject into the hyp 
notic state, which is described as "das ganzliche Hinaustre 
ten aus sich selbst und das Leben in der hoheren Sphare des 
Meisters." Hoffmann s hypnotist always controls the dreams 
of his subjects while in the hypnotic state. The Baron s 



i2Grisebach, Vol. I, page 163. 



60 Palmer Cobb 

dream of the dagger in his brain is suggested to him by his 
hypnotic master, the Danish Major. There is always the 
idea of the mastership of the "Magnetiseur," and the help 
lessness of the subject, connected in each case by the dream 
phenomena. The Major s words in the Baron s dream are 
typical of this: "Armes Menschenkind, erkenne deinen Meis- 
ter und Herrn." 

Theobald cures his fiancee s insanity by his hypnotic mas 
tery of her dream: 

Er setzte sich daneben (by the side of her bed), und den 
Geist mit der ganzen Kraft des Willens auf sie fixie- 
rend, schaute er sie mit festem Blick an. Nachdem er 
dies einige Mai wiederholt, schien der Kindruck ihrer 
Traume schwacher zu werden, denn der Ton, mit dem 
sie sonst den Namen des Offiziers gewaltsam hervor- 
schrie, hatte nicht mehr das die ganze Seele Durch- 
dringende, und tiefe Seufzer machten der gepressten 
Brust Luft. Nun legte Theobald auf ihre Hand die 
seinige, und nannte leise, ganz leise, seinen Namen. 
Bald zeigte sich die Wirkung .... Bis jetzt 
war Auguste am Tage still und in sich gekehrt 
gewesen, aber an dem Morgen nach jener Nacht 
aiisserte sie ganz unerwartet der Mutter, wie sie seit 
einiger Zeit lebhaft von Theobald traiime, und warum 
er denn nicht kame, ja nicht einmal schriebe. 13 
Alban s mastery over Maria is achieved in the same way. 
In the letter of Maria, already quoted, the following passage 
occurs: 

Das Besondere ist aber, dass in meinen Traiimen und 
Krscheinungen immer ein schoner ernster Mann im 
Spiele war, der, unerachtet seiner Jugend, mir wahr- 
hafte Khrfurcht einflosste, und der bald auf diese, bald 
auf jene Weise, aber immer in langen Talaren geklei- 
det, mit einer diamanten Krone auf dem Haupte, mir 
wie der romantische Konig in der marchenhaften Geis- 
terwelt erschien und alien bosen Zauber loste . . . 

i3Grisebach, Vol. I, page 157. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 61 

Ach, liebe Adelgunde, wie erschrack ich nun, als ich 
auf den ersten Blick in Alban jenen romantischen 
Konig aus meinen Traumen erkannte. 14 
These are exactly the relationships which exist in Poe s 
story between Bedloe and his physician, Templeton; the lat 
ter, like Alban, a disciple of Mesmer. 

Dr. Templeton had been a traveler in his younger days, 
and at Paris had become a convert in great measure to 
the doctrines of Mesmer. It was altogether by means 
of magnetic remedies that he had succeeded in alleviat 
ing- the acute pains of his patient; and this success had 
very naturally inspired the latter with a certain degree 
of confidence in the opinions from which the remedies 
had been educed. The Doctor, however, like all enthu 
siasts, had struggled hard to make a thorough convert 
of his pupil, and finally so far gained his point as to 
induce the sufferer to submit to numerous experiments. 
By a frequent repetition of these, a result had arisen, 
which of late days has been so common as to attract 
little or no attention, but which, at the period of which 
I write, had been very rarely known in America. I 
mean to say, that between Doctor Templeton and Bed 
loe there had grown up, little by little, a very distinct 
and strongly marked rapport or magnetic relation. I 
am not prepared to assert, however, that this rapport 
extended beyond the limits of the sleep-producing 
power; but this power itself had attained great inten 
sity. 15 

This corresponds exactly with the situation between Alban 
and Maria. The former s supremacy over the latter is gained 
gradually, until at length "nur meines Blickes, meines festen 
Willens bedurfte es sie in den ogenannten somnambulen Zu- 
stand zu versetzen." 

This is also Templeton s experience with Bedloe. 



WGrisebach, Vol. I, page 163. 
loHarrison, Vol. V, page 164. 



62 Palmer Cobb 

At the first attempt to induce the magnetic somnolency, 
the mesmerist entirely failed. In the fifth or sixth, he 
succeeded very partially, and after long continued 
efforts. .Only at the twelfth was the triumph com 
plete. After this, the will of the patient succumbed 
rapidly to that of the physician, so that, when I first 
became acquainted with the two, sleep was brought 
almost instantaneously by the mere volition of the 
operator, even when the invalid was unaware of his 
presence. 16 

Hoffmann s "Magnetiseur," as has already been shown, 
always controls the dreams of his subjects. The whole of 
Poe s story is the narrative of a dream which the hypnotist 
suggests to his patient. When Bedloe finishes the narrative 
of his vision, Templeton, the hypnotist, comes forward with 
this explanation: 

"You will perceive by these manuscripts," (here the 
speaker produced a note-book in which several pages 
appeared to have been freshly written) that at the 
very period in which you fancied these things amid the 
hills, I was engaged in detailing them upon paper here 
at home." 17 

In other words, the explanation is that Bedloe is in the 
hypnotic trance, that his mind is under the control of the 
hypnotist, and that the dream is the result of suggestion from 
the latter, exactly the status of affairs which exists in 
Hoffmann s story between the Danish Major and his pupils, 
Theobald and his fiancee, and Maria and Alban. 

In addition to this use of hypnotism, the two stories have 
in common a similar treatment of metempsychosis, a form of 
the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, the idea that 
an individual after death may be reincarnated and lead a sec 
ond existence, and that there may be even a thread of connec 
tion between these two periods of existence. Poe and Hoff- 



16 Harrison, Vol. V, page 165. 

17 Harrison, Vol. V, page 165. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 63 

mann both further accentuate the idea, and add to the mys 
terious by creating- between their individuals of the first and 
second existence, a physical and psychic resemblance. Such 
is the relationship which exists between Hoffmann s Major 
and Alban, the "Magnetiseur," and also between Poe s Oldeb 
and Bedloe. 

Hoffmann s description of the Major s person is as follows: 
Seine Riesengrosse wurde noch auffallender durch die 
Hagerkeit seines Korpers, der nur aus Muskeln und 
Nerven zu bestehen schien; er mochte in jiingern Jah- 
ren ein schoner Mann, gewesen sein; denn noch jetzt 
warfen seine grossen schwarzen Augen einen brennen- 
den Blick, den man kaum ertragen konnte; ein tiefer 
Funf ziger hatte er die Kraft und die Gewandtheit eines 
Jiinglings. 18 

Poe, in describing- Bedloe, is evidently painting- from this 
model: 

But in no regard was he (Bedloe) more sing-ular than 
in his personal appearance. He was singularly tall 

and thin. He stooped much His eyes 

were abnormally large and round like those of a cat. 
The pupils, too, upon any accession or diminution of 
lig-ht, underwent contraction or dilation, just such as 
is observed in the feline tribe. In moments of excite 
ment, the orbs grew brig-ht to a degree almost incon 
ceivable, etc. 

Bedloe is the officer Oldeb in the second existence, Alban 
is the Danish officer also in the second existence. 

Hoffmann, ever loath to quit absolutely the field of the 
natural, suggests rather than states explicitly this state of 
affairs. Early in Hoffmann s story the Baron expresses his 
distrust of Alban, the "Magnetiseur." 

Als Ottmar ihn vor mehreren Monaten als seinen 
innigsten Freund zu uns brachte, war es mir, els habe 
ich ihn irgend einmal schon gesehen; seine Peinheit, 



iSGrisebach, Vol. I, page 141, 



64 Palmer Cobb 

sein g-ewandtes Betrag-en gefielen nur, aber im g-anzen 
war mir seine Geg-enwart nicht wohlthuend. 19 
In the same conversation we have the first suggestion 
also of the identity of the Major and Alban. 

Aber Bickert! merk! wohl auf Die sonderbarste Ers- 
cheinung- diinkt mir, dass seitdem Alban hier ist, ich 
ofter als je an meinen danischen Major, von dem ich 
vorhin erzahlt habe, denken mnss. Jetzt, aber jetzt, 
als er so hohnisch, so wahrhaft diabolisch lachelte, und 
mich mit seinen grossen pechschwarzen Aug-en an- 
starrte, da stand der Major ganz vor mir die Aehn- 
lichkeit ist auffallend. 

At the end of fhe story the g-eneral catastrophe is related 
by Bickert, the Baron s old friend, and the only survivor of 
the original group of characters. We hear of the following- 
occurrence in the nig-ht preceding- the day set for Maria s 
wedding-: 

Sonderbares Ereig-nis! Als ich meinen Preund (der 
Baron) mit dem ich in die Nacht hinein manches vom 
Herzen g-esprochen, iiber den Korridor in sein Zimmer 
beg-leitete, rauschte eine hagere Pigur im weissen 
Schlafrock mit dem Licht in der Hand voriiber Der 
Baron schrie auf! "Der Major! Pranz! der Major!" 
Ks war unbestritten Alban, und nur eie Beleuchtung 
von unten herauf mochte sein Gesicht, welches alt und 
hasslich schien, verzerren. 20 

Then follows the direct sug-g-estion that Alban and the 
Major are one and the same person. 

Sollte der feindliche Damon, der sich dem Baron schon 
in friiher Jug-end verkundete, nun wie ein iiber ihn 
waltendes boses Prinzip wieder sichtbarlich, und das 
Gute entzweiend ins Leben treten? Doch weg mit den 
finstern Ahnungen! Uberzeug-e dich, Pranz, dass das 
hassliche traumerische Zeug oft das Kreignis des ver- 
dorbenen Mag-ens ist. 

l9Grisebach, Vol. I, page 160. 
aOGrisebach, Vol. I, page 176. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 65 

Hoffmann thus mystifies his readers by suggesting the 
identity of the Major and Alban and then scouts the idea as 
the result of a disordered stomach. 

Poe goes a step further, and leaves his reader to infer 
that he believes in the identity of the officer Oldeb with Bed- 
loe. Like Hoffmann, with his Danish Major, he makes an 
atmosphere of mystery around Bedloe by the peculiarity of 
the latter s person. Bedloe seems young and yet there were 
moments "when one might have easily believed him to be a 
hundred." His eyes seemed "to emit luminous rays, not of a 
reflected, but of an intrinsic lustre, as does a candle or the 
sun; yet their ordinary condition was so totally vapid, filmy, 
and dull, as to convey the idea of the eyes of a long interred 
corpse." 21 These touches carry with them the suggestion of 
death in connection with Bedloe. Again, in Bedloe s descrip 
tion of his dream, when he comes to the point where he is 
struck by an arrow, and in his dream sees himself die, the 
author interrupts him by the question, 

"You will hardly persist now" said I, smiling, "that 
the whole of your adventure was not a dream. You are 
not prepared to maintain that you are dead?" 
When I said these words, I of course expected some 
lively sally from Bedloe in reply; but to my astonish 
ment, he hesitated, trembled, became fearfully pallid, 
and remained silent. I looked towards Templeton. He 
sat erect and rigid in his chair his teeth chattered, 
and his eyes were starting from their sockets. 
At the conclusion of Bedloe s narrative of his dream, Tem- 
pleton (Poe s hypnotist) explains the vision as an actual 
occurrence in the city of Benares in India, produces a portrait 
which is the exact reproduction of Bedloe s features, and 
explains that it is a likeness of his dead friend Oldeb, who 
played exactly the part in the insurrection which Bedloe plays 
in the dream. The story ends with this suggestion from the 
author, who, shortly afterwards, reads in a local newspaper 
of Bedlo s death. 

21 Harrison, vol. V, page 164. 



66 Palmer Cobb 

"Then," said I, mutteringly, as I turned upon my heel, 
"then indeed has it come to pass that one truth is 
stranger than any fiction, for Bedlo, without the e, 
what is it but Oldeb conversed? And this man tells 
me it is a typographical error." 

Bedloe s dream is the result of hypnotic suggestion from 
Templeton, the dream itself is identified with an actual 
occurrence, and Bedloe himself is identified with Oldeb, an 
officer long since dead. 

Parallel motives in Hoffmann s story are Alban s control of 
Maria by hypnotic suggestion, especially in her dreams, and 
the identity of the Danish Major and Alban. 

The phenomena of dreams and sleep, especially of magnetic 
sleep, interested both authors keenly. Elsewhere in Poe s 
works there are numerous passages relative to this subject 
which echo opinions and experiences of the German author. 
For example, the dream of Bedloe, as he relates it, contains 
certain elements, the suggestions for which Poe undoubtedly 
drew from a dream of Medardus in "Die Klixiere des 
Teufels." It will be recalled that Bedloe in a vision saw 
himself killed, and viewed with the eyes of his soul his life 
less body. Let us compare Madardus s dream with that of 
Bedloe. The incident in question occurs at that point in the 
story where the monk is recovering from his illness in a mon 
astery near Rome. 

Der Arzt versprach meine baldige Herstellung, und in 
der That empfand ich nur in den Augenblicken jenes 
Delirierens, das dem Einschlafen vorherzugehen pf legt, 
fieberhafte Anfalle, die mit kalten Schauern und flie- 
gender Hitze wechselten. Gerade in diesen Augen 
blicken war es, als ich, ganz erfiillt von dem Bilde 
meines Martyriums, mich selbst, wie es schon oft 
geschehen, durch einen Dolchstich in der Brust ermor- 
dert schaute ... Statt des Blutes quoll ein ekel- 
hafter farbloser Saft aus der weit aufklaffenden Wunde 
und eine Stimme sprach: 1st das Blut vom Martyrer 
vergossen? Ich war es, der dies gesprochen, als ich 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 67 

mich aber von meinem toten Selbst getrennt fuhlte, 
merkte ich wohl, dass ich der wesenloseGedanke meines 
Ichs sei, utid bald erkannte ich mich als das im Aether 
schwimmende Rot. Ich schwang mich auf zu den 
leuchtenden Bergspitzen ... So wie ich tiefer utid 
tiefer niederfiel, erblickte ich die Leiche mit weit auf- 
klaffender Wunde in der Brust, aus der jenes unreine 
Wasser in Stromen floss. Mein Hauch sollte das Wasser 
umwandeln in Blut, doch geschah es nicht, die Leiche 
richtete sich auf und starrte mich an mit ,hohlen grass- 
lichen Augen und heulte wie der Nordwind in tiefer 
Kluft .... Die Leiche sank nieder; alle Blumen 
auf der Flur neigten verwelkt ihre Haupter, Menschen, 
bleichen Gespenstern ahnlich, warfen sich zur Brde 
und ein tausendstimmiger trostloser Jammer stieg in 
die Liifte. . , . Starker und starker wie des Meeres 
brausende Welle, schwoll die Klage! der Gedanke 
wollte zerstauben in dem gewaltigen Ton des trostlosen 
Jammers, da wurde ich wie durch einen elektrischen 
Schlag emporgerissen aus dem Traum. 22 
Bedloe s dream has all the same features and even literal 

correspondences of phrase. He is describing the peculiar 

arrows of the enemy : 

One of them struck me upon the right temple. I reeled 
and fell. An instantaneous and dreadful sickness seized 
me. I struggled! I gasped! I died. For many minutes 
my sole sentiment, my sole feeling, was that of dark 
ness and nonentity, with the consciousness of death. 
At length, there seemed to pass a violent and sudden 
shock through my soul, as if of electricity. With it 
came the sense of elasticity and of light. This latter 
I felt not saw. In an instant I seemed to rise from 
the ground. But I had no bodily, no visible, audible 
or palpable presence. . . , Beneath me lay my 
corpse, with the arrow in the temple, the whole head 



22 Grisebach, Vol. II, p. 250. 



68 Palmer Cobb 

greatly swollen and disfigured. But all these things I 
felt not saw. . . . Volition I had none, but ap 
peared to be impelled into motion, and flitted buoyantly 
out of the city, retracing the circuitous path by which 
I had entered it. When I had attained that point of 
the ravine in the mountains at which I had encoun 
tered the hyena, I again experienced a shock as of a 
galvanic battery; the sense of weight, of volition, of 
substance returned. I became my original self, and 
bent my steps eagerly homeward. 23 

Both dreamers see themselves killed, the one by a dagger, 
the other by an arrow. Separation of the soul and body fol 
lows. The soul is then dissolved into the ether, after which 
the body with its gaping wounds is plainly visible. Finally, 
a reunion of the body and soul takes place; in Hoffmann s 
story "durch einen elektrischen Schlag," in Poe s narrative 
by a "shock as of a galvanic battery." Poe has thus adopted 
Medardus s dream without change of incident, and almost 
without change of language. 

Other passages in Poe s works which have to do with 
dreams and their attendant phenomena reveal the unmistak 
able influence of Hoffmann. Medardus s dream, quoted above, 
occurs in "den Augenblicken jenes Delirierens, das dem Kin- 
schlafen vorherzugehen pflegt." The same expression occurs 
in Kreisleriana. 24 

Nicht sowohl im Traume, als im Zustande des Delirie 
rens, der demKinschlafen, vorhergeht, vorzuglich wenn 
ich viel Musikgehorthabe, finde ich eine Uebereinkunft 
der Farben, Tone and Diifte. 

In Poe s Colloquy of Mono s and Una** there occurs a pas 
sage which embodies the same experience. The passage in 
Poe occurs where the hero of the story, Monos, is describing 
the sensations of death. 

The senses were unusually active, although eccentric- 



23 Harrison ; Vol. V, page 172 and following. 

24 Grisebach; Vol. I, page 46. 

25 Harrison; Vol. IV, page 206. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 69 

ally so assuming often each other s functions at ran 
dom. The taste and smell were inextricably- confounded, 
and became one sentiment, abnormal and intense. 
Again in Poe s Marginalia we find a description of a con 
dition preceding sleep which corresponds to Hoffmann s 
Augenblicken, die dem Einschlafen vorherzugehen pflegen." 
Poe remarks that the common experience that certain thoughts 
are beyond the compass of words is based on a fallacy: 

For my own part, I have never had a thought which 
I could not set down in words. . . . There is, how 
ever, a class of fancies, of exquisite delicacy, which are 
not thoughts, and to which as yet I have found it abso 
lutely impossible to adapt language. I use the word 
fancies at random, and merely because I must use some 
word; but the idea commonly attached to the term is 
not even remotely applicable to the shadows of shadows 
in question. They seem to me rather psychic than 
intellectual. They arise in the soul (alas, how rarely!) 
only at its epochs of most intense tranquility, when 
the bodily and mental health are in perfection and 
at those mere points of time when the confines of the 
waking world blend with those of the world of dreams. 
I am aware of these fancies only when I am upon the 
very brink of sleep, with the consciousness that I am 
so. 26 

Poe s "fancies" which he experiences "on the very brink 
of sleep," are evidently the same as Hoffmann s "Traume im 
Zustand des Delierierens, der dem Einschlafen vorherzugehen 
pflegt." 

Both authors also give expression to the idea that it is in 
dreams that men are permitted to catch fleeting glimpses of 
another world. That dreams are, in a way, a partial revela- 
lation of those secrets of the universe which tantalize and 
baffle the powers of the intellect. 

Hoffmann s Magnetiseur opens with the proverb "Traume 
sind Schaume " In the long discussion of the subject of 

26 Harrison; Vol. XVI, page 88. 



70 Palmer Cobb 

dreams, the following will suffice to show the gist of the 

opinions others expressed: 

Sieh die tausend kleinen Blaschen, die perlend im Glase 
aufsteigen und oben im Schaume sprudeln, das sind die 
Geister, die sich ungeduldig von der irdischen Fessel 
loslosen; und so lebt und webt im Schaum das hohere 
geistige Prinzip, das frei von dem Drange des Materi- 
ellen frisch die Fittiche regend, in dem fernen uns 
alien verheissenen himmlischen Reiche sich zu dem 
verwandten hoheren Geistigen freudig gesellt, and alle 
wundervollen Krscheinungen in ihrer tiefsten Bedeu- 
tung wie das Bekannteste aufnimmt und erkennt. Ks 
mag daher auch der Traum von dem Schaum, in wel- 
chem unsere Lebensgeister, wenn der Schlaf unser 
extensives Leben befangt, froh and frei aufsprudeln, 
erzeugt werden und ein hoheres extensives Leben be- 
ginnen, in dem wir alle Erscheinungen der uns fernen 
Geisterwelt nicht nur ahnen, sondern wirklich erken- 
nen, ja in dem wir iiber Raum und Zeit schweben. 
In the same passage in Poe s Marginalia* 1 quoted above, 

the description of the "fancies" or dreams is quite in accord 

with the passage just quoted from Hoffmann. 

These "fancies" have in them a pleasurable ecstasy, 
as far beyond the most pleasurable of the world of 
wakefulness, or of dreams, as the heaven of the North 
man s theology is beyond its hell, I regard the vis 
ions, even as they arise, with an awe which, in some 
measure, moderates or tranquilizes the ecstasy I so 
regard them, through a conviction (which seems a por 
tion of the ecstasy itself) that this ecstasy, in itself, is 
of a character supernal to the human nature is a 
glimpse of the spirit s outer world. 



27 Harrison; Vol. XVI, page 89. 




CHAPTER VI 

HOFFMANN S Die Jesuilerkirche in G . . . AND 
POK S The Oval Portrait. 

A traveler detained on his journey, rests for a period by 
the way. In the place of his temporary sojourn the travel 
er s attention is called to a painting, a work of startling* 
genius, singular for its quality of lifelikeness. The traveler s 
interest in both the picture and the artist is keenly aroused 
and he succeeds in learning the history of both. The face of 
the woman which is portrayed on the canvas is that of the 
artist s wife. The story is of the painter who falls in love 
with his model, in this case the ideal which inspires him to 
production. Having won and possessed her, his wife falls a 
victim to the selfishness of his former mistress, Art, and 
dies, her life the price of her husband s success. 

These are the motives which form the skeleton of Poe s 
story, The Oval Portrait, and Hoffmann s Die Jesuiterkirche 
in G . . . The incidents thus recounted appear in both stories 
identically. But Poe relates a short story, solely for the 
telling, and to produce a certain effect. Hoffmann tells a 
long tale with the same central incidents, but embellished 
with infinitely more details. He satisfies his zest for the 
narrative for its own sake, and in addition provides himself 
with a vehicle for the expounding of his general theories of 
art. Poe s tale comprises scarcely a half dozen pages, and 
the personages of the story are two in number. The action 
proceeds rapidly, and reaches a climax which is quite in 
keeping with the author s oft-defined standard of excellence 
for the short story; namely, the producing of a desired effect. 
Hoffmann s story introduces a number of characters, gives a 
variety of description and incident not necessary to the devel 
opment of the action, and sets forth at some length its 
author s opinions on the subject of art. 



72 Palmer Cobb 

The theme of both stories is the selfishness of art, and both 
authors have used exactly the same incidents to serve their 
purpose. With Poe, the telling- of his story is the first object, 
the illustration of his theory a secondary consideration. 
Hoffmann s story, on the contrary, is so thoroughly infused 
with his ideas on the subject of art as to make its tone seem 
at times almost didactic. 

Poe adopts Hoffmann s device for the introduction of his 
story, varying from the German only in the setting-. Hoff 
mann s story begins in the first person. A traveler tells of 
an accident to his traveling- carriage which necessitated a 
stop of several days, for repairs, in a small village, apparently 
in South Germany. The traveler naturally casts about him 
for ways and means of entertaining himself during his 
enforced stay at the small country inn. He bethinks him 
self of a certain Professor in a Jesuit College located in the 
town, a man known to him by reputation. Claiming the 
right of his acquaintance by virtue of common friends, the 
traveler seeks out the Professor, and the latter, among other 
things, shows him the College and the neighboring Jesuit 
Church. It is during their passage through the church that 
we catch a first g-limpse of the artist whose life story com 
prises the tale. 

Dem Hochaltare links war ein hohes Geriiste errichtet, 
auf dem ein Mann stand, der die Wande in Giallo 
antik iibermalte . . . Der Maler wandte sich nach 
uns um; aber gleich fuhr er wieder fort zu arbeiten, 
indem er mit dumpfer beinahe unvernehmbarer Stimme 
sprach:"Viel Plage krummes verworrenes Zeug Kein 
L/ineal zu brauchen Tiere Affen Menschengesichter 
O ich elender Thor!" Das letzte rief er laut mit 
einer Stimme, die nur der tiefste im Innersten wiihlende 
Schmerz erzeugt; ich fiihlte mich auf die seltsamste 
Weise aufgeregt, jene Worte und der Ausdruck des 
Gesichts, der Blick, womit er zuvor den Professor an- 
schaute, brachten mir das ganze zerrissene Leben eines 
ungliicklichen Kiinstlers vor Augen. 1 

l Grisebach, Vol. Ill, page 90. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 73 

Thus, in his very introduction, Hoffmann invests his hero 
with a mystery, Going through the church, the Professor 
and the traveler pass a picture which is covered. An expla 
nation follows. 

"Dies Bild," sprach cler Professor, "ist das Schonste, 
was wir besitzen, es ist das Werk eines jungen Kiinst- 
lers der neueren Zeit gewiss sein letztes, denn sein 
Flug ist gehemmt wir mussten in diesen Tagen das 
Gemalde aus gewissen Griinden verhangen lassen, doch 
bin ich vielleicht morgen, oder iibermorgen imstande, 
es Ihnen zu zeigen." 

The promise is fulfilled the next day, and the picture is 
described as follows: 

Die Komposition war wie Raphaels Stil, einfach und 
himmlisch erhaben! Maria und Klizabeth in einem 
schonen Garten auf einem Rasen sitzend, vor ihnen 
die Kinder Johannes und Christus mit Blumen spiel- 
end, im Hintergrunde seitwarts eine betende mann- 
liche Figur! Marias holdes himmlisches Gesicht, die 
Hoheit und Frommigkeit ihrer ganzen Figur erfiillten 
mich mit Staunen und tiefer Bewunderung. Sie war 
schon, schoner als je ein Weib auf Krden, aber so wie 
Raphaels Maria in der Dresdner Gallerie verkiiundete 
ihr Blick die hohere Macht der Gottes-Mutter . . . 
Sprachen die weichen halbgeoffneten Lippen nicht 
trostend, wie in holden Kngels-Melodien, von der unend- 
lichen Seligkeit des Himmels? 

The picture is the work of the artist already introduced, 
the features of the Virgin are those of his wife, and what 
follows is the story of their lives. 

Poe s introduction has identically this background with a 
variation of locality and local color. Poe s traveler has been 
wounded in a fight with bandits in the Apennines. He is 
carried by his valet into a deserted chateau to rest and 
recover. The description of the chateau is an excellent 
example of the richness and variety of Poe s imagery. 



74 Palmer Cobb 

Its (the chateau s) decorations were rich, yet tattered 
and antique. Its walls were hung- with tapestry and 
bedecked with manifold and multiform armorial tro 
phies, tog-ether with an unusually great number of very 
spirited modern paintings in frames of rich golden ara 
besque. In these paintings which depended from the 
walls, not only in their main surfaces, but in very 
many nooks which the bizarre architecture of the cha 
teau rendered necessary, in these painting-s my incip 
ient delirium perhaps had caused me to take deep 
interest; so that I bade Pedro to close the heavy shut 
ters of the room since it was already night to lig-ht 
the tongues of a tall candelabrum which stood by the 
head of my bed, and to throw open far and wide the 
fringed curtains of black velvet which enveloped the 
bed itself. I wished all this done that I might resign 
myself, if not to sleep, at least to the contemplation 
of these pictures, and the perusal of a small volume 
which had been found under the pillow, and which pur 
ported to criticise and describe them. 2 

Having thus read for a time, the traveler changes the 
position of the candle in order that the light may fall more 
directly on his book. The result is the discovery of the picture. 
But the action produced an effect altogether unantici 
pated. The rays of the numerous candles (for there 
were many) now fell within a niche of the room which 
had hitherto been thrown into deep shade by one of the 
bed posts. I thus saw in vivid light a picture all 
unnoticed before. It was the portrait of a young girl 
just ripening into womanhood. I glanced at the paint 
ing hurriedly, and then closed my eyes. Why I did 
this was not at first apparent, even to my own percep 
tion. But while my lids remained shut, I ran over in 
my mind my reason for so shutting them. It was an 
impulsive movement to gain time for thought to make 



2 Harrison, Vol. IV, page 245. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 75 

sure that my vision had not deceived me to calm and 
subdue my fancy for a more sober and more certain 
gaze. In a very few moments I again looked fixedly at 
the painting-. 

That I now saw aright I could not and would not 
doubt; for the first flashing of the candles upon that 
canvas had seemed to dissipate the dreamy stupor which 
was stealing over my senses, and to startle me at once 
into waking life. 

The portrait, I have already said, was that of a young 
girl. It was a mere head and shoulders, done in what 
is technically called a vignette manner; much in the 
style of the favorite heads of Sully. The arms, the 
bosom, and even the ends of the radiant hair, melted 
imperceptibly into the vague yet deep shadow which 
formed the background of the whole. The frame was 
oval, richly gilded and filagreed in Moresque. As a 
thing of art, nothing could be more admirable than the 
painting itself. But it could have been neither the 
execution of the work nor the immortal beauty of the 
countenance, which had so suddenly and so vehemently 
moved me. Least of all, could it have been that my 
fancy, shaken from its half slumber, had mistaken the 
head for that of a living person. I saw at once that 
the peculiarities of the design, of the vignetting, and 
of the frame, must have instantly dispelled such idea 
must have prevented even its momentary entertain 
ment. Thinking earnestly upon these points, I remain 
ed, for an hour perhaps, with my vision riveted upon 
that portrait. At length, satisfied with the true secret 
of its effect, I fell back within the bed. I had found 
the spell of the picture in its absolute life-likeness of 
expression, which, at first startling, finally confounded, 
subdued and appalled me. With deep and reverent awe 
I replaced the candelabrum in its former position. 3 



3 Harrison, Vol. IV, page 246. and following. 



76 Palmer Cobb 

What follows is, in Hoffmann s story, the life history of 
the artist. 

Hoffmann relates the story of his hero from his youth on 
to the denouement of the tale. The young German artist 
Bert bold journeys to Italy and becomes the pupil of Hackert, 
under whom he studies landscape painting-. In the course of 
time he grows dissatisfied with his work, but has his confi 
dence in himself and his enthusiasm for art restored to him 
by an unknown artist. The latter succeeds in dissuading him 
from the mere copying of nature, and fires him with inspira 
tion for what he conceives to be the true spirit of art. But 
Berthold can see the figures which he wishes to paint only in 
dreams. When he attempts to reproduce them on canvas 
they elude him. 

Ich miihte mich, das, was nur wie dunkle Ahnung tief 
in meinem Innern lag, wie in jenem Traum hierogly 
ph isch darzustellen, aber die Ztige dieser Hieroglyphen- 
schrift waren menschliche Figuren, die sich in wunder- 
licher Verschlingung um einen Lichtpunkt bewegten. 
Dieser Lichtpunkt sollte die herrlichste Gestalt sein, 
die je eines Bildners Fantasie aufgegangen; aber ver- 
gebens strebte ich, wenn sie im Traum von Himmels- 
strahlen umflossen mir erschien, ihre Ztige zu erfassen. 4 
Finally Berthold discovers the embodiment of his ideal in 
the person of a Neapolitan princess whom he chances to see 
in the grounds of her villa near Naples. He recognizes her 
as the woman of his dream, and henceforth her face appears 
in all of his pictures. 

Wie von gottlicher Kraft beseelt, zauberte er mit der 
vollen Glut des Lebens das iiberirdische Weib, wie es 
ihm erschienen, hervor. . . . Er wahlte mehren- 
teils heitere Gegenstande christlicher Legenden, aber 
uberall strahlte die wunderherrliche Gestalt seines 
Ideals hervor. Man fand, das Gesicht und Gestalt der 
Prinzessin Angiola T. . . . zum Sprechen ahnlich sei 5 

4 Grisebach, Vol. Ill, page 107. 
6 Grisebach, Vol. Ill, page 108. 




Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 77 

She is also the model for the Virgin in the picture already 
described at the beginning. At the fall of the kingdom of 
Naples, Berthold chances to rescue the princess, and her fam 
ily all having perished, she flees with him to Germany, and 
becomes his wife. As his ideal, she has served as inspiration 
for all his work, the source of his joy in all his achievement. 
Now, she having become his wife, a new relationship grows up 
between them. The artist loses interest in his work as well 
as actual ability to paint. His wife, in time, comes to embit 
ter all of his pleasure in his work, even to be actively a hin 
drance to him. It is at this point that he conceiyes the plan 
for the picture in the Jesuit Church. 

Der einfache Gedanke, Maria und Elisabeth in einem 
schonen Garten auf einem Rasen sitzend, die Kinder 
Christus und Johannes vor ihnen im Grase spielend, 
sollte der ganze Vorwurf des Bildes sein, aber verge- 
bens war alles Ringen nach einer reinen geistigen An- 
schauung des Gemaldes. So wie in jeuer ungliick- 
lichen Zeit der Krisis, verschwammen ihm die Gestal- 
ten, und nicht die himmlische Maria, nein, ein irdisches 
Weib, ach, seine Angiola selbst stand auf greuliche 
Weise verzerrt, vor seines Geistes Augen. . . . 
Aber seine Kraft war gebrochen, all sein Bemuhen, so 
wie damals, nur die ohnmachtige Anstrengung des 
unverstandigen Kindes, Starr und leblos blieb, was er 
malte, und selbst Angiola Angiola, sein Ideal, wurde, 
wenn sie ihm sass und er sie malen wollte, auf der 
L/einwand zum toten Wachsbilde, das ihn mit glasernen 
Augen anstierte. 6 
His disappointment and anger is vented on his wife. 

Nein sie war nicht das Ideal, das mir erschien, nur 
mir zum rettungslosen Verdeben hatte sie trugerisch 
jenes Himmelsweibes Gestalt und Gesicht geborgt. In 
wilder Verzweiflung fluchte ich ihr und dem unschul- 
digen Kinde. Ich wiinschte beider Tod, damit ich 



6 Grisebach, Vol. Ill, page 111. 



78 Palmer Cobb 

erlost werden moge von der unertraglichen Qual, die 
wie mit gliihenden Messern in mir wiihlte. Gedanken 
der Holle stiegen in mir auf. Vergebens las ich in 
Angiolas leichenblassem Gesicht, in ihren Thranen 
mein rasendes freveliches Beginnen du hast mich um 
mein Leben betrogen, verruchtes Weib, briillte ich auf, 
und stiess sie rait dem Fusse von mir, wenn sie ohn- 
machtig niedersank, und meine Knie umfasste. 7 
Berthold s brutality causes his wife s death, and we are 
given to understand that not until after her death does he suc 
ceed in giving- life-likeness to her picture. In other words, 
the price of the success of the picture is the life of the model. 
Berthold erschien bald darauf (after his wife s death) 
zu N, in Oberschlesien; er hatte sich seines Weibes und 
Kindes entledigt, und fing voll heitern Mutes an, das 
Bild zu tnalen, das er in N. vergebens begonnen hatte. 8 
The major portion of Poe s story is comprised in the intro 
duction and the description of the picture. The story of the 
artist he professes to take from a book in the chateau. 

She was a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more lovely 
than full of glee. And evil was the hour when she 
saw, and loved, and wedded the painter. He passion 
ate, studious, austere, and having already a bride in his 
art; she, a maiden of rarest beauty, and not more love 
ly than full of glee; all light and smiles, and frolic 
some as a young- fawn; loving and cherishing all 
things; hating only the Art which was her rival; dread 
ing only the pallette and the brushes and other unto 
ward instruments which deprived her of the countenance 
of her lover. It was thus a terrible thing for this lady 
to hear the painter speak of his desire to portray even 
his young bride. But she was humble and obedient, 
and sat meekly for man} 7 weeks in the dark high turret- 
chamber where the light dripped upon the pale canvas 



7 Grisebach, Vol. II, page 112. 

8 Grisebach, Vol. Ill, page 112. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 79 

only from overhead. But he, the painter, took glory 
in his work, which went on from hour to hour, and 
from day to day. And he was a passionate and wild 
and moody man, who became lost in reveries; so that he 
would not see that the light which fell so ghastly in 
that lone turret withered the health and the spirits of 
his bride, who pined visibly to all but him. Yet she 
smiled on and still on, uncomplainingly, because she 
saw that the painter (who had high renown) took a 
fervid and burning pleasure in his task, and wrought 
day and night to depict her who so loved him, yet who 
grew daily more dispirited and weak. And in sooth 
some who beheld the portrait spoke of its resemblance 
in low words, as of a mighty marvel, and a proof not 
less of the power of the painter than of his deep love 
for her whom he depicted so surpassingly well. But at 
length as the labor drew near to its conclusion, there 
were admitted none into the turret; for the painter had 
grown wild with the ardor of his work, and turned his 
eyes from the canvas rarely, even to regard the counte 
nance of his wife. And he would not see that the tints 
which he spread upon the canvas were drawn from the 
cheeks of her who sat beside him. And when many 
weeks had passed, and but little remained to do, save 
one brush upon the mouth, and one tint upon the eye, 
the spirit of the lady again flickered up as the flame 
within the socket of the lamp. And then the brush 
was given, and then the tint was placed; and for one 
moment the painter stood entranced before the work 
which he had wrought; but in the next, while he yet 
gazed, he grew tremulous and very pallid, and aghast, 
and crying with a loud voice, "This is Life indeed!" 
turned suddenly to regard his beloved: Shewasdead. 9 
To Poe belongs the credit of superior dramatic effect. He 
has adopted Hoffmann s motives and the latter s guiding 
thought, but the American s story is more closely constructed 
and more impressive in its climax. 



80 Palmer Cobb 

Hoffmann tells the story of an artist who, having- pos 
sessed the woman who had served as his artistic inspiration, 
finds the very possession of her to be fatal to his creative im 
pulse. He reg-ains his lost power at the price of his wife s 
life. Only after her death is he able to execute his picture 
of her. 

Poe uses the same motives, but with a keener eye for the 
telling- possibilities of the story, he establishes a relation of 
cause and effect between the successful completion of the 
painting- and the death of the woman. The artist paints the 
life of his wife into the canvas. It is this life-likeness of the 
picture which makes it startling-, 

The theme of both stories is the jealousy of Art as a mis 
tress. 



C H A PJT E R VII 

HOFFMANN S Doge und Dogaressa AND POF/S The 
Assignation 

The resemblances between Hoffmann s story, Doge und 
Dogaressa, and Poe s The Assignation, have been cited in 
support of Poe s debt to the earlier author by most of the 
critics who have argued in favor of such a debt. Stedman, 
in the introduction to the Woodberry-Stedman edition of Poe, 
remarks relative to the two tales: 1 

The Assignation derives from Hoffmann s Doge und 
Dogaressa, and the tableau with the Marchesa is a 
radiantly poetic variation upon the balcony scene in 
the earlier tale. 

In Lauvriere s Life of Poe, 2 the same suggestion occurs. 
On a bien dit que la chute de la Maison Usher, la 
scene du balcon dans L" 1 assignation, et le Portrait Ovale 
devraient beaucoup au Majorat, au Doge et Doga 
ressa, etc. 

The story of the Venetian Doge, Marino Faliero, (1354), 
forms the historical setting- for Hoffmann s tale. The first 
suggestion for his work came, as he himself tells us in the 
beginning of the story, from a picture which he saw at an 
exhibition in Berlin in 1816. The picture portrays an old 
Doge standing with his young and beautiful Dogaressa at his 
side, with a panorama of Venice as a background. A discus 
sion among a group of friends as to whether the picture was 
intended to portray a historical event, or whether the subject 
was simply an invention of the artist, calls forth the story of 
old Faliero and his youthful bride, Annunziata. 

Hoffmann introduces his story with a somewhat extended 
extract from Venetian history, having to do with the causes 



1 Page 96. 

2 Page 595. 



82 Palmer Cobb 

which led up to and resulted in the calling- to the ducal throne 
of the old warrior, Faliero. This is an element of the story 
which may be here disregarded. The old Doge is described 
as a gray-headed octogenarian, but a man still possessed of 
great strength of body, acuteness of mind, and decision of 
action. At his first entry into Venice, after his election, his 
life is endangered by a storm which threatens for a time to 
engulf his barque. He is saved and landed at St. Mark s by 
a common gondolier. The latter, the hero of the story, has 
already been introduced by Hoffmann as follows: 

Gerade in dem Augenblick, als namlich Marino Falieri 3 
den Bucentoro zu besteigen im Begriff stand, und das 
war am dritten Oktober abends, da schon die Sonne zu 
sinken begann, lag vor den Saulen der Dogana, auf 
dem harten Marmorpflaster ausgestreckt, ein armer. 
ungliicklicher Mensch. Einige Lumpen gestreifter 
Leinwand, deren Farbe nicht mehr kenntlich und die 
sonst einem Schifferkleide, wie das gemeinste Volk der 
L/asttrager und Ruderknechte es tragt, angehort zu 
haben schienen, hingen um den abgemagerten Korper. 
Vom Hemde war nichts mehr zu sehen, als die eigne 
Haut des Armen, die uberall durchblickte, aber so 
weiss und zart war, dass sie der Kdelsten einer ohne 
Scheu und Scham hatte tragen kounen. So zeigte 
auch die Magerkeit nur desto besser das reinste 
Ebenmass der wohlgebauten Glieder und betrachtete 
man nun vollends die hell kastanienbraunen Locken, 
die zerzaust und verworren die schonste Stirn umschat- 
teteti, die blauen nur von trostlosem Blend verdiister- 
ten Augen, die Adlernase, den fein geformten Mund 
des Ungliicklichen, der hochstens zwanzig Jahre zu 
zahleu schien, so, war es gewiss, dass irgend ein feind- 
seliges Schicksal den Fremdling von guter Geburt in 
die unterste Klasse des Volks geschleudert haben 
musste. 4 

3 Hoffmann spells the name with a final i instead of o. 

4 Grisebach; Vol. VII, page 105. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 83 

Hoffmann thus suggests that his hero does not belong by 
birth in the class of society in which we find him. 

The next step in the development of the story makes the 
reader the witness of a scene between the newly chosen Doge 
and one Bodoeri, the latter a Venetian noble and a member of 
the Council of Ten. Bodoeri, in the furtherance of his polit 
ical ambition, wishes to marry his niece, a young girl of 
eighteen, to the old Doge. Bodoeri so skilfully depicts the 
charms of the young girl to the old warrior that the latter is 
soon obsessed with the idea, and the marriage is arranged. 

In the meantime, the story of the Doge s rescuer, the lat 
ter now occupying another position in life by means of the 
gold which he has received as reward, is continued. Young 
Antonio learns from his former nurse the story of his German 
parentage, an attack of the plague having obliterated entirely 
the memory of his childhood and youth. To the days of this 
childhood and youth belongs a love affair with Annunziata, 
Bodoeri s niece, and now the young Dogaressa. The sight ol 
her bridges the gulf between him and his past, awakens 
within him all the recollections of his childhood, and arouses 
with renewed ardor his love for the sweetheart of his child 
hood, now old Faliero s wife. The love of the young Antonio 
for the old Doge s young wife is the key to the tragic culmin 
ation of the tale. What follows is the story of Antonio s 
intrigue to gain an interview with Anuunziata. In order to 
be near her, he bribes the old Doge s gondolier, and serves 
himself as a gondolier. Also by means of a bribe he suc 
ceeds in taking the place of the man who, on "Giovedi 
grasso," according to the old Venetian custom, descends by 
means of cords and pulleys from the top of St. Mark s to the 
balcony of the Doge (erected in the square), and presents a 
bouquet to the Dogaressa. Finally, by means of an intrigue 
which is aided and abetted by his old nurse, Antonio gains 
admittance to the Ducal Palace. Instead of keeping tryst 
with his mistress, however, Antonio becomes involved in a 
revolution which he finds brewing, the purpose of which is 
to overthrow old Faliero. Later, in the consequent uproar 



84 Palmer Cobb 

and confusion, he escapes with Annunziata. The pair of 
lovers, tog-ether with the old nurse, find death in a storm at 
sea while they are making- their escape, 

Wie ein frohlicher Liebesbote tanzte der helle Mondes- 
schimmer auf den Wellen vor ihnen her. Sie waren auf 
hoher See. Da beg-ann es seltsam zu pfeifen und zu 
sausen in hoher Luf t finstere Schatten kamen gezogen 
und hingen sich wie dunkle Schleier iiber das leuch- 
tende Antlitz des Mondes. Der tanzende Schimmer, 
der frohliche Liebesbote sank herab in die schwarze 
Tiefe voll dumpfer Donner. Der Sturm erhob sich und 
jag-te die dustern zusammen geballten Wolken mit zor- 
nig-em Toben vor sich her. Hoch auf und nieder flog 
die Barke. "O hilf, o Herr des Himmels!" schrie die 
Alte. Antonio, des Ruders nicht tnehr machtig, um- 
schlang-die holde Annunziata, die, von seinen gliihenden 
Kiissen erweckt, ihn mit der Inbrunst der seligsten 
Liebe an ihren Busen driickte. "O mein Antonio!" 
"O meine Annunziata!" So riefen sie des Sturmes nicht 
achtend, der immer entsetzlicher tobte und brauste. 
Da streckte das Meer, die eifersiichtige Witwe des 
enthaupteten Falieri, die schaumenden Wellen wie 
Riesenarme empor, erfasste die Liebenden und riss sie 
samt der Alten hinab in den bodenlosen Abgrund! 5 
Poe, as is often the case, writes his story to produce an 
effect. In the achievement of this purpose, only the points 
most salient to the story are touched upon. The number of 
characters is also reduced to three. Hoffmann gives us the 
story of the old Dog-e, his young- wife, and the latter s lover, 
Antonio, the whole interwoven with a chapter of Venetian 
history, and provided with a number of characters more or 
less sharply and clearly drawn. The tale is carefully con 
structed and, so far as technique is concerned, is worked out 
on a somewhat elaborate scale. Poe presents the same story 
in the same setting. We have again the old Doge, his young 



5 Grisebach, Vol. VII, page 144. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 85 

wife, the latter s lover, and the tragic death of the last two 
at the climax. But Poe s method of execution is quite differ 
ent. He omits all introductory facts of history, disregards 
entirely characterization, and reduces the number of charac 
ters to three. The technique is of the simplest. The story 
is presented in two pictures, the first of which is strikingly 
similar to the corresponding scene in Hoffmann s story. 

Hoffmann s story opens with a description of the picture, 
painted by Kolbe and exhibited in Berlin in 1816, which 
inspires his story: 

Mit diesem Namen war in detn Katalog der Kunst- 
werke, die die Akademie der Kiinste zu Berlin im Sep 
tember, 1816, ausstellte, ein Bild bezeichnet, das der 
wackre tiichtige C. Kolbe, Mitglied der Akademie, 
gemalt hatte und das mit besonderm Zauber jeden 
anzog, so dass der Platz davor selten leer blieb. Ein 
Doge in reichen prachtigen Kleidern schreitet, die 
ebenso reich gesmiickte Dogaressa an der Seite, auf 
einer Balustrade hervor, er ein Greis mit grauem Bart, 
sonderbar gemischte Ztige, die bald auf Kraft, bald auf 
Schwache, bald auf Stolz und (jbermut, bald auf Gut- 
miitigkeit deuteten, im braunroten Gesicht; sie ein 
junges Weib, sehnsiichtige Trauer, traumerisches Ver- 
langen im Blick, in der ganzen Haltung. Hinter ihnen 
eine altliche Prau und ein Mann, der einen aufge- 
spannten Sonnenschirm halt. Seitwarts an der Bal 
ustrade stosst ein junger Mensch in ein muschel- 
formig gewundenes Horn und vor derselben im Meer 
liegt eine reich verzierte mit der venetianischen Flagge 
geschmuckte Gondel, auf der zwei Ruderer befindlich. 
Im Hintergrunde breitet sich das mit hundert und aber 
hundert Segeln bedeckte Meer aus, und man erblickt 
die Turme und Palaste des prachtigen Venedig, das 
aus den Fluten emporsteigt. Links unterscheidet man 
San Marco, rechts mehr im Vorgrunde San Giorgio 
Maggiore. 6 

6 Grisebach, Vol. VII, page 101. 



86 Palmer Cobb 

Poe, with a masterful stroke and with a half dozen sen 
tences, conjures up the mystery and romance of Venice, and 
in this setting- paints a picture which is strikingly like the 
one just quoted from Hoffmann: 7 

Yet I remember ah! how should I forget? the deep 
midnight, the Bridge of Sighs, the beauty of woman, 
and the Genius of Romance, that stalked up and down 
the narrow canal. 

It was a night of unusual gloom. The great clock of 
the Piazza had sounded the fifth hour of the Italian 
evening. The Square of the Campanile lay silent and 
deserted, and the lights of the old Ducal Palace were 
dying fast away. I was returning home from the 
Piazetta by way of the Grand Canal. But as my gon 
dola arrived opposite the mouth of the Canal San 
Marco, a female voice from its recesses broke suddenly 
upon the night in one wild, hysterical and long-contin 
ued shriek. . . . Like some huge and sabled feath 
ered condor, we were slowly drifting down towards the 
Bridge of Sighs, when a thousand flambeaux flashing 
from the windows and down the staircase of the Ducal 
Palace, turned all at once that deep gloom into a livid 
and preternatural day. 

A child, slipping from the arms of its own mother, had 
fallen from an upper window of the lofty structure into 
the deep and dim canal. The quiet waters had closed 
placidly over their victim; and, although my own gon 
dola was the only one in sight, many a stout swimmer, 
already in the stream, was seeking in vain upon the 
surface the treasure which was to be found, alas! only 
within the abyss. Upon the broad black marble flag 
stones at the entrance of the palace, and a few steps 
above the water, stood a figure which none who then 
saw can have ever since forgotten. It was the Mar- 
chesa Aphrodite the adoration of all Venice the 



7 Harrison, Vol. II, page 110. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 87 

gayest of the gay the most lovely where all were 
beautiful but still the young wife of the old and 
intriguing Mentoni, and the mother of that fair child, 
her first and only one, who now, deep beneath the 
murky water, was thinking in bitterness of heart upon 
her sweet caresses, and exhausting its little life in 
struggles to call upon her name. 

She stood alone. Her small, bare and silvery feet 
gleamed in the black marble beneath her. Her hair, 
not as yet more than half loosened for the night from 
its ball-room array, clustered amid a shower of dia 
monds round and round her classical head, in curls like 
those of the young hyacinth. A snowy-white and 
gauzelike drapery seemed to be nearly the sole covering 
to her delicate form; but the midsummer and midnight 
air was hot, sullen and still, and no motion in the 
statue-like form itself stirred even the folds of that 
raiment of very vapour which hung around it as the 
heavy marble hangs around the Niobe. Yet, strange 
to say, her large lustrous eyes were not turned down 
wards upon that grave wherein her brightest hope lay 
buried but riveted in a widely different direction. 
The prison of the Old Republic is, I think, the state 
liest building in all Venice; but how could that lady 
gaze so fixedly upon it, when beneath her lay stifling 
her own child? 

Many steps above the Marchesa, and within the arch 
of the water-gate, stood, in full dress, the satyr-like 
figure of Mentoni himself. He was occasionally occu 
pied in thrumming a guitar, and seemed ennuye to the 
very death, as at intervals he gave directions for the 
recovery of the child . . . 

Poe s use of the motive of the drowning child is a device 
for the introduction of the hero: 

All efforts proved in vain. Many of the most energetic 
in the search were relaxing their exertions, and yield 
ing to a gloomy sorrow. There seemed but little hope 



88 Palmer Cobb 

for the child (how much less then for the mother!), but 
now, from the inteiior of that dark niche which has 
already been mentioned as forming" a part of the Old 
Republican prison, and as fronting- the lattice of the 
Marchesa, a figure muffled in a cloak stepped out within 
reach of the light, and pausing- a moment upon the 
verge of the giddy descent, plunged headlong into the 
canal. As in an instant afterwards he stood with the 
still living and breathing child within his grasp upon 
the marble flagstones by the side of the Marchesa, his 
cloak heavy with the drenching water became unfas 
tened, and, falling in folds about his feet, discovered to 
the wondering spectators the graceful person of a very 
young man, with the sound of whose name the greater 
part of Europe was then ringing. 8 

Poe mentions the singular lack of emotion displayed by 
the mother at the rescue of her child, and comments upon the 
fact that she blushes as she receives the child from the hands 
of its deliverer. The relationship between the Marchesa and 
the rescuer of her child is then suggested in the following 
paragraph: 

Why should the lady blush? To this demand there is 
no answer except, having left in the eager haste and 
terror of a mother s heart, the privacy of her own bou 
doir, she has neglecled to throw over her Venetian 
shoulders that drapery which is their due. What other 
possible reason could there have been for her so blush 
ing? for the glance of those wild appealing eyes? for 
the unusual tumult of that throbbing bosom? for the 
the convulsive pressure of that trembling hand? that 
hand which fell, as Mentoni turned into the palace, 
accidentally, upon the hand of the stranger. What 
reason could there have been for the low, the singularly 
low tone of those unmeaning words which the lady 
uttered hurriedly in bidding him adieu? "Thou hast 



8 Harrison, Vol. II, page 112. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 89 

conquered," she said, or the murmur of the waters 
deceived me; "thou hast conquered one hour after 
sunrise we shall meet so let it be." 
This is the "Assignation," and this picture of the old 
Mentoni and his young wife forms the first part of Poe s 
story. 

The second part describes a visit to the palazzo of the 
stranger, early in the morning of the next day. It is largely 
a typical Poe description, the gorgeous description of the gor 
geous apartments of the stranger, the rescuer of the previous 
evening. This description of the princely magnificence" of 
the Venetian palazzo belongs to Poe s best descriptive work, 
and is evidently entirely the product of his fertile imagina 
tion. Among the paintings described is a portrait of the 
Marchesa di Mentoni: 

Human art could have done no more in the delineation 
of her superhuman beauty. The same ethereal figure 
which stood before me the preceding night upon the 
steps of the Ducal Palace, stood before me once again. 
But in the expression of the countenance, which was 
beaming all over with smiles, there still lurked (incom 
prehensible!) that fitful strain of melancholy which 
will ever be found inseparable from the perfection of 
the beautiful. Her right arm lay folded over her 
bosom. With her left she pointed downward to a curi 
ously fashioned vase. One small fairy foot, alone visi 
ble, barely touched the earth; and scarcely discernible 
in the brilliant atmosphere which seemed to encircle 
and enshrine her loveliness, floated a pair of most deli 
cately imagined wings. 9 

An hour after sunrise, the two men pledge each other in 
goblets of wine, and the stranger quotes these lines: 
Stay for me there! I will not fail 
To meet thee in that hollow vale 

He throws himself upon an ottoman, confessing the power 
of the wine. At this moment an interruption occurs: 

9 Harrison, Vol. II, page 122. 



90 Palmer Cobb 

A quick step was now heard upon the staircase and a 
loud knock at the door rapidly succeeded. I was has 
tening to anticipate a second disturbance, when a page 
of Mentoni s household burst into the room, and fal 
tered out, in a voice choking with emotion, the inco 
herent words, 4 Mj mistress! my mistress poisoned 

poisoned ," etc. 

Bewildered, I flew to the ottoman, and endeavored to 
arouse the sleeper to a sense of the startling intelli 
gence. But his limbs were rig-id in death. I staggered 
back towards the table my hand fell npon a cracked 
and blackened goblet and a consciousness of the 
entire and terrible truth flashed suddenly upon my 
soul. 10 

The lovers have kept their tryst. They poison themselves 
simultaneously, and this is the "Assignation." 

Hoffmann s denouement is certainly more in harmony with 
the setting- of his story. He makes copious use of the Venet 
ian legends of the sea, and in the end it is the sea that claims 
the lovers as its victims. 

The Venetian setting-, the story of the old Venetian noble 
and his young- wife, the latter s lover, and the tragic death of 
the two lovers. These are elements for the suggestion of 
which Poe is indebted to Hoffmann. In the development of 
his story he departs radically, both as to method and inci 
dent, from his model. It is in the picture of the young and 
beautiful Marchesa and her gray-headed husband, as they 
appear in the opening pages of Poe s story, that one recog 
nizes most readily their prototypes from Hoffmann s tale, 
namely, the old Doge Falieri, his young and beautiful wife, 
Annunziata, and the latter s lover, Antonio. " 



10 Harrison, Vol. II, page 124. 

11 This same story has been made the subject of a tragedy by Byron and 
by Casimir Delavigne. Cf. Kaiser, Uebcr Byron s und Delavigne 8 Marino 
Falieri, Schulprogramm Diisseldorf, 1870. Byron and Delavigne make the 
conspiracy of the old Doge and his tragic end the subject of their dramas. 
Hoffmann and Poe disregard this element, making the fate of the young Do- 
garessa and her lover of paramount interest in their stories. 



CHAPTER VIII 
POE S STYLISTIC INDEBTEDNESS TO HOFFMANN 

Reference has been made to an implication which Prof. 
Gruener makes in his article in the Publications of the Mod 
ern Language Association to the effect that Poe imbibed a 
certain trick of style from Hoffmann. The statement is as 
follows: 

Every one conversant with Poe s Tales, who has read 
them with some attention to their style, has probably 
noticed one idiosyncrasy of style, which, owing to its 
frequent occurrence becomes a downright vice. I refer 
to the peculiar habit of the author in conversational 
dialogue of beginning a sentence with one or more 
words, inserting thereupon the word of saying, by 
itself or with others, and then repeating the opening 
words before proceeding with the rest of the sentence. 
E. g., "Thou hast conquered," she said, or the mur 
murs of the water deceived me "thou hast con 
quered." 1 

"What think you," said he, turning abruptly as he 
spoke "What think you of this Madonna della 
Pieta?" 2 

"They have given the signal at last," cried the Phari 
see, "they have given the signal at last!" 3 
Such examples might be multiplied by scores. These 
repetitions take various forms, differing in minor de 
tails, which may be classified in three types for the sake 
of convenience. 

The first type is the one of which examples have just 
been given, i. e., with some expression of saying inter- 



1 Harrison, Vol. II, page 114. The Assignation. 

2 Harrison, Vol. II, page 118. The Assignation. 

3 Harrison, Vol. II, page 218, Tale of Jerusalem. 



92 Palmer Cobb 

veiling- between the opening- words and their repetition. 
The second type is that in which a statement 
is made and followed by a parenthetical explanation or 
interruption, whereupon the first words are repeated 
with "I say!" E. g., "Do you know, however," contin 
ued he musingly, "that at Sparta (which is now Pal- 
aeschori). at Sparta, I say, to the west of the citadel," 
etc. 4 

There is a sub-class of this type in which the phrase 
"I say" is omitted. As, "The person of the stranger 
let me call him by this title, who to all the world 
was still a stranger the person of the stranger is one 
of these subjects," etc. 5 

The third type is a mere repetition with or without 
any parenthetical phrase, but with a change to 
strengthen the opening statement. E. g., "Very well! 
very well, sir! Very well indeed, sir!" said his Maj 
esty, etc. 6 "See! See!" cried he, shrieking in my ears, 
"Almighty God! See! See!" 7 

Prof. Gruener cites many examples of these types of repe 
tition from Poe s works and observes further that they "can 
be accounted for only as a habit, a trick of style, which, as 
far as I have been able to recall or learn by inquiry, is pecul 
iar to Poe, at least among English writers." In a foot-note 
he states that he has applied to Professors Lounsbury, Beers 
and Cross, who "were unable to recall any other English 
writer who shows this peculiarity to anywhere near such an 
extent, if at all. 

Prof. Gruener then calls attention to the fact that 
examples of such repetition abound in the works of Hoffmann. 
He quotes a correspondingly large number of examples from 
the latter s tales. After examining the facts, he reaches the 
following conclusion: 



4 The Assignation. Vol. II, page 117. 

5 The Assignation. Vol. II, page 114. 

6 Bon Bon, Vol. II, page 140. 

7 M. S. Found in a Bottle. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 93 

Hence there can only be one inference from these facts; 
Hoffmann grew into the peculiarity, Poe grew out of 
it; with Hoffmann it was natural, self-developed, with 
Poe something- extraneous, acquired, but thrown off as 
he grew more and more independent in style and in 
method. So much seems established beyond a reason 
able doubt. But, if this peculiar habit was acquired, 
if it was an imitation, there is only one writer Poe 
could have learned it from, and that was Hoffmann, 
from whom he seems to have obtained so many sugges 
tions for his tales, particularly the earlier ones. 
Is the statement that this peculiarity of style is not com 
mon to any other English writers accurate? Is there any 
thing so singular in this trick of style that its repeated use 
by any author would constitute a distinguishing character 
istic of the style of the author in question? If it can be shown 
that an indefinite number of examples of this form of repeti 
tion can be found in the works of other English authors, and 
such authors as Poe must have been well acquainted with, is 
it not seeking too far afield to make him the debtor of Hoff 
mann for this stylistic characteristic? As a matter of fact, 
the peculiarity in question seems to be a tolerably common 
rhetorical device, used by various authors in greater or less 
degree, as an aid to clearness. 

Among English writers, with whose work Poe must have 
been familiar, such repetitions are particularly common in 
the weird novels of terror by Mrs. Ann Radcliff. Among 
American writers, both Hawthorne and Cooper make copious 
use of the same device. 

Following are a few examples from Mrs. Radcliff s Mys 
teries of Udolpho*, taken from a cursory survey of the first one 
hundred and thirty pages. 

"You are worse then, sir!" said Emily, extremely alarmed 
by his manner; "you are worse, and here is no assistance." 
(Page 31.) 

"I feel," said he at length, "I feel how insufficient all 

8 The Mysteries of Udolpho, by Mrs. Ann Radcliff, London, 1824. 



94 Palmer Colb 

attempt at consolation must be on this subject." (Page 49.) 

"His hand deposited them here," said she, as she kissed 
some pieces of the coin, and wetted them with her tears 
"his hand which is now dust." (Page 51.) 

"Ah, I see," said Valancourt, after a long- pause, during 
which Emily had begun and left unfinished two or three sen 
tences "I see that I have nothing- to hope." (Page 52.) 

"So, niece," said Madame Cheron, casting a look of sur 
prise and inquiry on Valancourt "so, niece! how do you do?" 
(Page 54.) 

"Emily," said Valancourt at length, as he pressed her 
hand in his, "Emily! " and he was again silent. (Page 75.) 

"I had hoped, sir, that it was no longer necessary for me 
to disclaim it," said Emily; "I had hoped from your silence," 
etc. (Page 102.) 

"But this morning," continued Annette, lowering her 
voice and looking around the room, "this morning as it was 
broad daylight," etc. (Page 124.) 

"Nay, prythee, good Annette, stay not talking," said 
Emily in a voice of agony "go, prythee, go, and see what 
it is." (Page 125.) 

Nobody, I believe, ma am," replied Annette, "nobody has 
been with her," etc. (Page 128.) 

"Hear me, Emily," resumed Morano, "Hear me! I love, 
and am in despair yes in despair." (Page 128. ) 

The same sorts of repetition are to be found in the Ital 
ian 9 by the same author. 

"Stop! for heaven s sake stop!" said Bonarmo. (Page 26.) 

"Tell me, I conjure you, instantly tell me, "etc. (Page 37.) 

Three weeks ago, say you! you said three weeks, I 
think?" (Page 58.) 

"Yet I will not suppose, Signer, I say I will not suppose," 
raising his voice significantly, "that you have dared," etc. 
(Page 63.) 

"I understand," said the abbess, on whose appearance the 
alarmed Ellena had arisen, "I understand," said she, without 

9 The Italian, Mrs. Ann Radcliff. Londony: 1826. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 95 

making 1 any further signal for her to be seated, * that you are 
the young- person," etc. (Page 83.) 

"Avaunt," cried he, in a tremendous voice, "Avaunt! 
sacrilegious boy!" (Page 129.) 

To a less degree the same device is found in Horace Wai- 
pole s Castle of Otranto 

"I sent for you, lady," said he, and then stopped under 
great appearance of confusion. "My Lord! Yes, I sent 
for you on a matter of great moment," resumed he. (Page 
72.) 

"Theodore!" said Manfred, mournfully, and striking his 
forehead; "Theodore, or a phantom, he has unhinged the soul 
of Manfred." (Page 168.) 

"Thou art no lawful prince," said Jerome, "thou art no 
prince;" (Page 191.) 

"Forgive him, dearest mother forgive him my death." 
(Page 215.) 

From Hawthorne such quotations could be multiplied indef 
initely." A few will suffice. 

"Thou knowest," said Hester, for depressed as she was, she 
could not endure this last quiet stab at the token of her shame 
"thou knowest that I was frank with thee." (Page 97.) 2 

"Where," asked he, with a look askance at them for it 
was the clergyman s peculiarity that he seldom, nowadays, 
looked straight forth at any object, whether human or inani 
mate "Where, my kind Doctor," etc. (Page 160.) 

"Thus, a sickness," continued Roger Chillingsworth, 
going on in an unaltered tone without heeding the interrup 
tion but standing up and confronting the emaciated and 
white-cheeked minister, with his low, dark and misshaped 
figure "a sickness, a sore place," etc. (Page 166.) 

The following examples are from the House of Seven 
Gables. 



10 Philadelphia: 1826. 

11 The Riverside Edition of Hawthorne s Works. 

12 The Scarlet Letter. 



96 Palmer Gobi 

"Strange! forsooth! very strange!" cried the lieutenant. 
(Page 21.) 

"Poor business!" responded Dixey, in a tone as if he 
were shaking- his head, "poor business!" (Pag-e 59.) 

"Well, child," said she, taking- heart at sig-ht of a person 
so little formidable, "well, my child, what did you wish 
for?" (Page 61.) 

"For what end," thought she, giving vent to that feeling 
of hostility which is the only real abasement of the poor in 
the presence of the rich, "for what good end, in the wis 
dom of Providence, does that woman live?" (Page 67.) 

"Take it as you like, Cousin Jaffrey !" muttered the maiden 
lady, as she drew back, after cautiously thrusting out her 
head, and looking up and down the street "take it as you 
like!" (Page 71.) 

"So you have really begun trade," said he "really begun 
trade." (Page 75.) 

"Ah! but these hens," answered the young man, "these 
hens of aristocratic lineage would scorn to understand the vul 
gar language of a barn-yard fowl." (Page 107.) 

"There is nothing but love here, Clifford," she added, 
"nothing but love!" (Page 125.) 

"Hike that, Cousin Phoebe!" cried he, with an emphatic 
nod of approbation. "I like it much, my little cousin!" 
(Page 139.) 

The following examples are from Mosses from an Old 
Manse. 

"Nay, pluck it," answered Aylmer, "pluck it, and inhale 
its brief perfume while you may." (The Birthmark, page 52. ) 

"Carefully now, Aminidab; carefully, thou human ma 
chine; carefully, thou man of clay." (The Birthmark, page 
63.) 

"It is nonsense," murmured the Oldest Inhabitant, who, 

as a man of the past, felt jealous that all notice should be 

withdrawn from himself to be lavished in the future, 

sheer nonsense to waste," etc. (A Select Party, page 76.) 

"O, how stubbornly does love, or even that cunning 
semblance of love which flourishes in the imagination, but 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 97 

strikes no depth of root into the heart, how stubbornly does 
it hold its faith," etc. (Rappacini s Daughter, page 125.) 

"Dear Beatrice," said he, approaching her, while she 
shrank away as always at his approach, but now with a dif 
ferent impulse, "dearest Beatrice, our fate is not yet so 
desperate," etc. (Rappacini s Daughter, page 137.) 

"Madam," said I holding the newspaper before Mrs. Bull 
frog s eyes, and, though a small, delicate, and thin-visaged 
man, I feel assured that I looked very terrific, "Madam," 
repeated I, through my shut teeth," etc. (Mrs. Bullfrog, 
page 47. ) 

The following examples are from Blithedale Romance . 
"And bellowing, I suppose," said I, not that I felt any 
ill-will towards Fourier, but merely wanted to give the fin 
ishing touch to Hollingsworth s image "bellowiug for the 
last drop of his beloved lemonade" (Page 391.) 

"I cannot conceive," observed Zenobia, with great empha 
sis and, no doubt, she spoke fairly the feeling of the mo 
ment, "I cannot conceive of being so continually as Mr. Cov- 
erdale is within the sphere," etc. (Page 397.) 

"I wish, Mr. Moodie," suggested I not that I greatly 
cared about it, however, but was only anxious to draw him 
into some talk about Priscilla and Zenobia, "I wish, while 
we sit over our wine," etc, (Page 325.) 

The following examples are from Twice Told Tales-. 

"There," cried Endicott, looking triumphantly on his 
work, "there lies the only Maypole in New England." (The 
Maypole of Merry Mount, page 80.) 

"To think," ejaculated the Lord de Vere, rather to him 
self than to his companions, the best of whom he held utterly 
unworthy of his intercourse "to think that a fellow in a 
tattered cloak," etc. (The Great Carbuncle, page 180.) 

"Perhaps," slyly remarked the grand-daughter of Colonel 
Joliffe, whose high spirits had been stung by many taunts 
against New England,, "perhaps we are to have" etc. 
(Howe s Masquerade, page 279. ) 



98 Palmer Cobb 

"As yet," cried the stranger, his cheek glowing- and his 
eye flashing with enthusiasm "as yet, I have done nothing." 
(The Ambitious Guest, page 368.) 

"The children," said he to himself and sighed and 
smiled "the children are to be my charge." (The Three 
fold Destiny, page 536.) 

The following are from Tanglewood Tales: 

"Oh! I am stung!" cried he, "I am stung!" (The Par 
adise of Children, page 94.) 

"Oh, tell us," they exclaimed, "tell us what it is." 
(The Paradise of Children, page 100.) 

"Go back," cried they all, "go back to your own home!" 
(The Three Golden Apples, page 113.) 

Many other examples could be adduced from Hawthorne s 
works. The foregoing will suffice to show that he made a 
large use of this form of repetition in his dialogue. 

In the novels of James Fenimore Cooper the same trick of 
repetition is to be found on almost every page. 

From The Pathfinder. 13 Vol. 17. 

"More s the pity, boy; more s the pity." (Page 17.) 

"You are wrong, you are wrong, friend Cap; very wrong 
to distrust the power of God in anything." (Page 20.) 

"It s no great secret no great secret," returned Path 
finder. (Page 22.) 

"Call him in," whispered Jasper, scarce able to restrain 
his impatience; "call him in, or it will be too late." (Page 
54.) 

"I ask your pardon, Pathfinder," said the repentant Jas 
per, eagerly grasping the hand that the other permitted him 
to seize, "I ask your pardon humbly and sincerely." (Page 
57.) 

"Keep well up the current, Jasper," shouted the gallant 
guide, as he swept the water with long, steady, vigorous 
strokes of the paddle; "keep well up the current." (Page 64.) 



13 Mohawk Edition of Cooper s Works, New York, 1897. 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Poe 99 

"Ay, empty your rifles, like simpletons as you be," said 
the Pathfinder, who had acquired a habit of speaking- when 
alone, f Jom passing- so much of his time in the solitude of 
the forest; "empty your rifles with an unsteady aim, " 
(Page 64.) 

"How beautiful!" she exclaimed, unconscious of speaking, 
as she stood on the solitary bastion facing the air from the 
lake, and experiencing the genial influence of its freshness 
pervading- both her body and her mind. "How very beauti 
ful!" (Page 112.) 

"Can this be so, Sergeant?" said the guide, whose meek 
and modest nature shrank from viewing- himself in colors so 
favorable. "Can this be truly so?" (Page 135.) 

"Walk in, Serg-eant, walk in, my good friend," said old 
Lundie, heartily, as his inferior stood in a respectful attitude 
at the door of a sort of library and bedroom into which he had 
been ushered; "walk in, and take a seat on that stool." 
(Page 142.) 

"I protest, Major Duncan, I protest," cried Muir, hurry- 
iug back towards the stand, with both arms elevated by way 
of enforcing his words, "I protest in the strongest terms," 
etc. (Page 166.) 

From The Prairie, Vol. 20. 

"Come nigher, we are friends," said the trapper, associ 
ating himself with his companion by long use, and probably 
through the strength of the secret tie that connected them 
together; "we are friends," etc. 

"Mischief," deliberately returned the squatter; but with 
a cool expression of defiance in his eye, that showed how lit 
tle he was moved by the ill-concealed humor of his children, 
"Mischief, boy; mischief!" (Page 100.) 

"Come on, friend," he said, waving his hand as he observ 
ed the stranger to pause a moment, apparently in doubt, 
"Come on, I say." (Page 111.) 

"Asinus excepted," muttered the Doctor, who by this time 
was discussing his portion of the hump in utter forgetfulneas 
of all its scientific attributes. "Asinus domesticus Ameri- 
canus excepted." (Page 115.) 



100 Palmer Cobb 

"It seems to me," said Dr. Battius, speaking with the sort 
of deliberation and dignity one is apt to use after having- thor 
oughly ripened his opinions by sufficient reflection, "it seems 
tome a man but little skilled in the signs and tokens of 
Indian warfare, especially as practised in these remote plains, 
but one who, I may say without vanity, has some insight into 
the mysteries of nature; it seems, then to me," etc. 
(Page 148.) 

From The Pioneers. 

"Lie down, you old villain," exclaimed Leather Stocking, 
shaking his ramrod at Hector as he bounded towards the 
foot of the tree, "lie down, I say." (Page 37.) 

"Draw up in the quarry draw up, thou king of the 
Greeks; draw into the quarry, Agamemnon, or I shall never 
be able to pass you." (Page 38.) 

"Cover thy poll, Gaul, cover thy poll," cried the driver, 
who was Mr. Richard Jones; "cover thy poll, or the frost will 
pluck out the remnant of thy locks," etc. (Page 38.) 

"A twelve-pounder!" echoed Benjamin, staring around him 
with much confidence; "a twelve-pounder!" (Page 73.) 

"Reach me the scissors," said Mr. Jones when he had fin 
ished, and finished for the second time, after tying the linen 
in every shape and form that it could be placed; "reach me 
the scissors, for there is a thread." (Page 83.) 

These three novels of Cooper ( The Pathfinder, The Prai 
rie, and 7 he Pioneers) were chosen at random. One hundred 
and seventy-five pages of The Pathfinder, one hundred and fifty 
of The Prairie and one hundred of The Pioneers were exam 
ined and possibly two-thirds of the examples which occur 
within those pages were cited. 

Enough evidence has been adduced to show that the state 
ment that this peculiarity of style is peculiar to Poe among 
English authors is not accurate. On the contrary, it is to be 
found abundantly in the works of other authors, and authors 
with whose work Poe was unquestionably familiar. One may 
therefore conclude that, unless there is other evidence of 
Hoffmann s influence in Poe s style, it is not necessary to sup- 



Influence of Hoffmann on the Tales of Pot 101 

pose that Poe acquired this stylistic habit from Hoffmann. 
This other evidence is lacking. A careful reading- of the two 
authors can but lead to the conviction that Ppe s ^acquaint 
ance with Hoffmann was not" Tjf" 4nttmate a nature as to 
have left stylistic traces in the former s work . They both, to 
be sure, work" with the same general romantic material 
with the same superlative vocabulary of the weird tale of mys 
tery; but Poe was not so saturated with Hoffmann as to have 
absorbed from him any of those characteristics of style which 
were peculiarly his own. The American is indebted to the 
German for motives and combinations of motives, not for 
stylistic attributes. 

With reference to this form of repetition in Hoffmann s 
works, it is worthy of note, that he most likely acquired it 
from Schiller, who made a large use of it in die Geisterseher, 
and to less extent in die Rauber. Hoffmann s style was 
undoubtedly influenced by Schiller. 14 

Eie Einkleidung dieser Ideen (Hoffmann s Vision auf 
dem Schlachtfelde zu Dresden) ist indessen offenbar 
beinflusst von dem Traum des Franz im funften Akt 
der Rauber , wie denn iiberhaupt die Rauber, wahr- 
scheinlich schon seit Hoffmanns Jugendzeit eine nach- 
haltige Wirkung auf sein Phantasielebena usgeubt ha- 
ben; auch in den rollenden Worten der Vision glaubt man 
einen Nachhall von Schillers Sprache zu vernehmen. 
Again: 

Schillers Geisterseher wird zwar in den Briefen nicht 
erwahnt, aber wir wissen aus spateren Bekentnissen, 
wie stark das Buch gerade damals auf seine Phantasie 
gewirkt hat. 

This, taken in connection with the fact that in Schiller s 
Geisterseher examples of such repetition are found on every 
few pages, establishes, at least a probability that Hoffmann s 
use of this trick of style was acquired from Schiller, and that 
it was not a thing "natural, self-developed," as suggested by 



14 Cf. Ellinger. 



102 Palmer Cobb 

Prof. Gruener. Space permits the enumeration of a few 
examples from the Geisterseher.* 

"Sie haben uns," sagte er, indem er ihm zug-leich einig-e 
Goldstiicke in die Hand driickte, "sie haben uns aus den 
Handen eines Betriigers g-erettet." (Pag-e 254.) 

"In der Tat," rief der Prinz mit einer Miene zugleich des 
Verdrusses und der Verwunderung-, indem er mir besonders 
einen bedeutenden Blick gab, "in der Tat," rief er aus." etc. 
(Page 260.) 

"Ihr Trauring!" rief der Prinz mit Befremdung-. "Ihr 
Trauring!" (Page 277.) 

"Das wir unter einander da so glucklich sind," hub end- 
lich der Greis an, der allein unter uns alien den Unbekannten 
nicht zu bemerken oder sich doch nicht uber ihn zu verwun- 
dern schien: "Das wir so glucklich sind," sagie er, etc. 
(Page 280.) 



15 v . d. Hellen, Vol. 2. 



CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, one may sum up the facts relative to the 
question which this work undertakes to discuss, as follows: 

First, from about the year 1825 there was a constantly 
increasing interest in current German literature in England 
and America. The expression of this interest is to be 
observed in the numerous translations from the German, as 
well as the frequent articles which deal with German litera 
ture in the magazines and periodicals of the time. 

Secondly, Poe, as a magazine editor and a contributor to 
the magazines, followed closely English and American peri 
odicals, and therefore must have been affected more or less by 
this interest. His attention was probably first attracted to 
Hoffmann by Scott s article in the Foreign Quarterly Review, 
and the interest this article aroused in him led to a closer 
acquaintance with Hoffmann s works. 

Thirdly, Poe possessed the ability to read German, although 
his reading of Hoffmann was by no means dependent upon this 
ability, since he might have read him in both English and 
French translations. 

Fourthly, five stories of Poe show the indubitable influence 
of Hoffmann. These five stories are, in the order of their 
publication, The Assignation, Southern Literary Messenger, 
July, 1835; Fall of the House of Usher, Burton s Gentleman s 
Magazine, September 1839; William Wilson, Burton s Gen 
tleman s Magazine, October, 1839; The Oval Portrait, Gra 
ham s Magazine, April, 1842; and The Tale of the Ragged 
Mountains, Godey S Lady s Book, April 1844. It cannot be 
claimed that Hoffmann s influence dominated Poe during 
this whole period, 1835 to 1844. It was rather a question of 
his "looking about him for such combinations of events or 
tone", 1 and finding in Hoffmann s works at various times such 
motives as struck his fancy, or suited his purpose. Above all, 

l Harrison, Vol. XIV, page 194. 



104 Palmer Cobb 

it was probably Hoffmann s interest in mesmerism and 
metempsychosis that attracted Poe s attention. At that per 
iod when these subjects were absorbing- his interest, he went 
naturally to Hoffmann s tales, and drew from them in his own 
work dealing- with the same subject. 

This interest in mesmerism, metempsychosis, etc., and the 
expression of this interest in the prose tale was, of course, 
not confined to Poe and Hoffmann alone. These subjects, as 
well as other motives used by Poe and Hoffmann, play a part 
in that tale of terror the principal exponents of which were 
Mrs. Radcliff, Horace Walpole, and M. G. Lewis. The kin 
ship of Poe s tales to those of Hoffmann is not attested by 
the fact that the motives in question are peculiar to Poe and 
Hoffmann. They may be found in other sources both Kng-- 
lish and German. 

The verification of Poe s indebtedness to the German is to 
be sought in the similarity of the treatment of the same 
motives in the works of both authors. The most convincing 
^vidence is furnished by the way in which Poe has combined 
these themes in the exact agreement with the grouping- 
employed by Hoffmann. Notable examples of this are the 
employment of the idea of the double existence in conjunction 
with the struggle of the g-ood and evil forces in the soul of 
the individual, and the combination of mesmerism and metemp 
sychosis as leading- motives in one and the same story. 

Finally, Hoffmann s influence on Poe did not extend to the 
latter s style. It was solely a borrowing and adaptation of 
motives. 



\ &gt; v 

. FORN^ 




VITA 

I was born near Blackwell, Caswell County, N. C., April 1, 
1880. My youth was spent in Danville, Virginia, to which 
place my parents had removed when I was two years old. 
I attended various private schools in Danville. My prepara 
tion for college was received at the Danville Military Insti 
tute. I entered the University of North Carolina in Febru 
ary, 1898, and received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy 
in 1901. The following- year, 1901-02, I was Instructor in 
French and German in the same university. 1902-03, I was 
Scholar in German, Columbia University, New York. From 
this institution I received the degree of Master of Arts in 
1903. During- the summer of 1903 I was a student at the 
University of Jena, Germany. In September 1903, I was 
appointed Tutor in German in the Colleg-e of the City of New 
York, which position I held until June, 1907, except for the 
academic year 1905-06, during- which time I was on leave 
and a student at the University of Kiel, Germany. In June, 
1907, I was appointed Associate Professor of German in the 
University of North Carolina. 

It is a pleasure to acknowledg-e here my indebtedness to 
Professor W. H. Carpenter, of Columbia University, Profes 
sor Friedrich Kauffmann and Professor Ferdinand Holthau- 
sen of the University of Kiel, Germany, for kindly advice and 
suggestion. 

To Professor Calvin Thomas of Columbia University my 
especial thanks are-due for proof reading-, valuable criticism, 
and guidance in the preparation of this dissertation. More 
especially for that spirit of ready helpfulness and sympa 
thetic interest which characterizes his relationships with 
those who are privileged to do work under his direction. 



3* If 
t* 



T 



^AST^ 



RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 

TO ^ 202 Main Library 


LOAN PERIOD 1 
HOME USE 


2 


3 


4 


^5~ 


6 



ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 

Renewals and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date. 

Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405 

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 



AUTO DISC CIRC 



09 93 



JAN 17 1997 



FORM NO. DD6 



UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
BERKELEY, CA 94720 



